ENGLISH
REFERENCE

chow

n. uncountable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈtʃaʊ// UK //tʃˈaʊ// chow Archaic Slang

n. food, especially a meal. It is an informal word often used for animal food or casual human meals.

n. food, particularly a specific meal or the food given to animals. Informal register; common in North American English.


SIMPLE

The dog ate its chow quickly.

CONTEXTUAL

We stopped for chow at a roadside diner.

COMPLEX

The hikers shared their chow, dividing the dried fruit and jerky evenly among the group.

Synonyms
Origin

From Cantonese 周 (zau¹).

© 2026 English Reference