chess

== English == === Pronunciation === enPR: chĕs, IPA(key): /t͡ʃɛs/ Rhymes: -ɛs === Etymology 1 === From Middle English ches, chesse, from Old French eschés, plural of eschec, from Medieval Latin scaccus, from Arabic شَاه (šāh, “king [in chess]”), from Classical Persian شاه (šāh, “shah, king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (mlkʾ /⁠šāh⁠/), from Old Persian 𐏋 (XŠ /⁠xšāyaθiya⁠/). Compare German Schach and Italian scacchi. Compare French échecs (“chess”) and its descendants: Catalan escacs and Dutch schaak. More at check and shah (“king of Persia or Iran”). ==== Noun ==== chess (usually uncountable, plural chesses) A board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king. Synonyms: international chess, Western chess ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== See also ==== Appendix:Glossary of chess checkers draughts scacchic === Etymology 2 === Uncertain; perhaps linked to Etymology 1, above, from the sense of being arranged in rows or lines. ==== Noun ==== chess (plural chesses) (now chiefly US) Any of several species of grass in the genus Bromus, generally considered weeds. === Etymology 3 === Compare French châssis (“a framework of carpentry”). ==== Noun ==== chess (plural chesses) (military, chiefly in the plural) One of the platforms, consisting of two or more planks dowelled together, for the flooring of a temporary military bridge. === References === “chess”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. === Anagrams === hESCs