Etymograph

English

chalk

Chalk comes from Old English ċealc ‘plaster, mortar’, from Latin calx ‘limestone’, and perhaps ultimately from Ancient Greek χάλιξ ‘pebble’.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχάλιξ1khálix‘pebble’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcalx1‘limestone’
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kalk1‘lime’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċealc1‘plaster’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chalk1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1678chalk1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English chalk
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1678, John Bunyan, The Author’s Apology for His Book: “This Book it chaulketh out before thine eyes /…”.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχάλιξWiktionary, English chalkkhálix‘pebble’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcalxWiktionary, English chalk‘limestone’
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kalkWiktionary, English chalk‘lime’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċealcWiktionary, English chalk‘plaster’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chalkWiktionary, English chalk
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1678chalkWiktionary, English chalk. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1678, John Bunyan, The Author’s Apology for His Book: “This Book it chaulketh out before thine eyes /…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with chalk, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Latin calx ‘limestone’

33 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “chalk”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek χάλιξ / chalk