First published 2019
chillaxverb
Factsheet
What does the verb chillax mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb chillax. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the verb chillax?
About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English
| Oct.–Dec. 2017 | 0.011 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2018 | 0.011 |
| Apr.–June 2018 | 0.011 |
| July–Sept. 2018 | 0.012 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2018 | 0.013 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2019 | 0.013 |
| Apr.–June 2019 | 0.013 |
| July–Sept. 2019 | 0.013 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2019 | 0.012 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2020 | 0.012 |
| Apr.–June 2020 | 0.011 |
| July–Sept. 2020 | 0.0098 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2020 | 0.0092 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2021 | 0.008 |
| Apr.–June 2021 | 0.0085 |
| July–Sept. 2021 | 0.0088 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2021 | 0.0083 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2022 | 0.0081 |
| Apr.–June 2022 | 0.0088 |
| July–Sept. 2022 | 0.0089 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2022 | 0.0095 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2023 | 0.0089 |
How is the verb chillax pronounced?
British English
/tʃɪˈlaks/
chil-AKS
U.S. English
/ˌtʃɪˈlæks/
chil-AKS
Where does the verb chillax come from?
Earliest known use
1990s
The earliest known use of the verb chillax is in the 1990s.
OED's earliest evidence for chillax is from 1994, in a message posted on the Usenet newsgroup bit.listserv.cinema-l.
Nearby entries
- chiliastic, adj.1622–
- chiliastical, adj.a1638
- chiliastically, adv.1882
- chilindre, n.c1386–1530
- chiliomb, n.1706–
- Chilkat, n.1836–
- chill, n.Old English–
- chill, adj.c1540–
- chill, v.1399–
- chill-, comb. form
- chillax, v.1994–
- chill-cast, n.1930–
- chill-cold, adj.1567–1693
- chilled, adj.1598–
- chiller, n.1798–
- chill factor, n.1967–
- chill-hardening, n.1874–
- chilli | chilly, n.1662–
- chilli con carne | chili con carne, n.1857–
- chilli crab | chili crab, n.1963–
- chilli dog | chili dog, n.1948–
Etymology
Meaning & use
Contents
colloquial.
- 1994–intransitive. To calm down and relax; to take it easy, to chill (see chill v. Additions 4). Often in imperative: ‘relax’, ‘calm down’.
- 1994
Chillax my friend. I agree with most of your sentiments about Tarantino and his use of violence as comedy.
Re: Devil Worshipping Mom Beaters in bit.listserv.cinema-l (Usenet newsgroup) 6 December - 2008
Lenny yawned. ‘Jesus, Ro. Chillax, would you?’
Z. Heller, Believers xiii. 195 - 2009
This is literally the 1st time i have sat down for more than 30 min. in the new place and just chillaxed.
@KatAragon 5 September in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) - 2014
Everyone knows that sixteen-year-old geezers don't play—we hang out or chillax.
B. Conaghan, When Mr Dog Bites (2015) ii. 5
- saughtelc1400To become calm or quiet.
- breathe1485–intransitive. To rest and recover after vigorous physical activity; to take a breather. Also figurative: to pause in order to reflect, relax, or…
- pacify1509–intransitive. To become peaceful, calm down; to moderate. rare.
- settle1591–intransitive. Of strong emotion: to subside, calm down. Of the brain, mind, etc.: to become calm or composed.
- compose1663intransitive (for reflexive). Obsolete.
- to breathe freely (also easy, easily) and variants: to feel at ease in a particular situation or environment. Also: to relax; to recover one's…
- tranquillize1748–intransitive. To become tranquil or quiet.
- cool1836–figurative. intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). With out. To calm down, relax; to take it easy.
- simmer down1842–Originally U.S. intransitive. To calm down from an angry or agitated state.
- calm1877–intransitive. Of the sea or wind: To become calm. Obsolete except with down. Also figurative.
- relax1907–intransitive. To become less tense, anxious, or stressed; to calm down. Frequently in imperative.
- to cool it1952–slang (originally U.S.). to cool it: to relax, calm down; (also) to curtail or put an end to an activity (frequently with on, with). Frequently in…
- to Zen out1968–intransitive. to Zen out: to enter a state of meditative calmness or serenity of mind, emotions, etc.; to relax. Cf. Zen, n. A.2.
- mellow1974–intransitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). With out. To become relaxed, esp. under the influence of a drug. Also (occasionally) transitive (reflexive…
- to take a chill pill1981–A (notional) pill used to calm or relax a person. Frequently in to take a chill pill: to calm down, to relax, to ‘chill out’ (usually in imperative)…
- chillax1994–intransitive. To calm down and relax; to take it easy, to chill (see chill, v. additions 4). Often in imperative: ‘relax’, ‘calm down’.
Pronunciation
British English
/tʃɪˈlaks/
chil-AKS
U.S. English
/ˌtʃɪˈlæks/
chil-AKS
Pronunciation keys
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence <petal> /ˈpɛtl/ but <petally> /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in <bitter>
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence <petal> /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but <petally> /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige
Vowels
- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot
Frequency
chillax typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
chillax is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of chillax, v., 2017–2023
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.
| Period | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| Oct.–Dec. 2017 | 0.011 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2018 | 0.011 |
| Apr.–June 2018 | 0.011 |
| July–Sept. 2018 | 0.012 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2018 | 0.013 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2019 | 0.013 |
| Apr.–June 2019 | 0.013 |
| July–Sept. 2019 | 0.013 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2019 | 0.012 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2020 | 0.012 |
| Apr.–June 2020 | 0.011 |
| July–Sept. 2020 | 0.0098 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2020 | 0.0092 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2021 | 0.008 |
| Apr.–June 2021 | 0.0085 |
| July–Sept. 2021 | 0.0088 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2021 | 0.0083 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2022 | 0.0081 |
| Apr.–June 2022 | 0.0088 |
| July–Sept. 2022 | 0.0089 |
| Oct.–Dec. 2022 | 0.0095 |
| Jan.–Mar. 2023 | 0.0089 |
Entry history for chillax, v.
chillax, v. was first published in September 2019
chillax, v. was last modified in July 2023
oed.com is a living text, updated every three months. Modifications may include:
- further revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
- new senses, phrases, and quotations.
Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into chillax, v. in July 2023.
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Chicago
Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “,” , .
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MLA9
“” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, , .
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Citation details
Factsheet for chillax, v.
Browse entry
Nearby entries
- chiliastic, adj.1622–
- chiliastical, adj.a1638
- chiliastically, adv.1882
- chilindre, n.c1386–1530
- chiliomb, n.1706–
- Chilkat, n.1836–
- chill, n.Old English–
- chill, adj.c1540–
- chill, v.1399–
- chill-, comb. form
- chillax, v.1994–
- chill-cast, n.1930–
- chill-cold, adj.1567–1693
- chilled, adj.1598–
- chiller, n.1798–
- chill factor, n.1967–
- chill-hardening, n.1874–
- chilli | chilly, n.1662–
- chilli con carne | chili con carne, n.1857–
- chilli crab | chili crab, n.1963–
- chilli dog | chili dog, n.1948–
