This is from Wikipedia: Sources disagree on the origin of the word. The Collins English Dictionary suggests that it derives from a distortion of the Anglo-Romany word chavi meaning "child". [1] In contrast, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary suggests that the word derives either from a nickname for "Chatham girls" [2] or from the Romany word chavo (boy), which is also the source of the Spanish word chaval. It also reports that the word can be used as an adjective e.g. "The bus was full of chav kids." [3]. There are a large number of synonyms and regional variations of "chav", including