C

Chalk (chalk) verb, (past participle: chalked) steal. “Someone chalked my boom box.” [Etym., 90’s youth culture]

Check, (chek) v., To pay attention to, to be aware of. Especially used as reflexive verb, as in, “Watch it, bro’, you’d better check yourself.” [Etym., African American]

Cheese (cheez) verb, (pres. participle: cheesin’) smile. “Emilia must have finally hooked up, look how she’s cheesin’” [Etym., 90’s youth culture]

Chill, (chil) v., to relax, hang out, spend time casually. “I’m just going to chill at home.” Pres. participle: chillin’. [Etym., African American]

Cholo (Chola), (cho-lo) n., A Chicano, born in the U.S. “That cholo has a fine fit, eh?” [Etym., Chicano/Spanish]

Chop it up, (chop it up) v. clause, talking, talking with friends with great interest, enthusiasm. “Girl, last night we were choppin’ it up.” [Etym., 90’s youth]

Chorba (CHOR-bah) n., Girlfriend, somebody’s woman friend, one’s woman. “Don’t mess with my chorba.” [Etym., mountains of N. Spain]

Chronic, (KRAN-ik) n., marijuana, bot. cannabis sativa. “He’s messed up because he can’t lay off the chronic.” [Etym., Rastafarian]

Chunk (chunk) v., to fight “If they don’t stop bothering us, we’re going to chunk ‘em” [Etym., 90’s youth]

Clean (cleen) adj., Looking good in a neat way. “That outfit was clean.” [Etym., African American]

Cliqua, (KLEE-ka) n., Also, Clika. A group of friends. “We’re going to let her hang out with our cliqua this weekend.” [Etym., Spanglish, mixture of Spanish and English, Chicano.]

Clique, (clik) n., Also: Click. A group of friends. “We’re going to let her hang out with our click this weekend.” [Etym., 60’s youth culture]

Clown, (klown) v., n., Make fun of another, act crazy; a fool. “It was cold of you to clown on Jesse.” [Etym., African American]

Coin, (koyn) n., money, a metal used for money. “Hey, man, you got some coin on those fries?” [Etym., African American]

Cold, (cold) adj., Mean, evil, cold-hearted, not nice. “It was real cold of Bo to make fun of his friend.” [Etym., African American]

Conniption (con-NIP-shun) n., A fit of violent emotion, such as anger or panic. Also: conniption fit. “Hey, mom, don’t have a conniption fit.” [Etym., 50’s, middle America]

Crew, (cru) n., A group of friends. “We’re going to let her hang out with our crew this weekend.” [Etym., 90’s youth culture]

Crib, (krib) n., home, house, apartment, bedroom. “I’ve been lyin’ up at the crib all day.” [Etym., 40’s, Jazz, African American]

Crucial (KRU-shell) adj., Excellent, the best, fantastic. “That film was crucial.” [Etym., Chicago youth culture, 90’s]

Crusty, (KRUS-tee) adj., messed up, dirty, old. “I couldn’t stand sitting next to that crusty man in the theater.” [Etym., 90’s youth]

Cuts (kutz) n., Far away, located far from the rest of the city. “We had to drive to the cuts to pick up my friend.” [Etym., African American]

Cuzin (CU-zin) n., also: cuz. A friend or associate. “What’s up, cuzin?” [Etym., African American]