chav

like spiv, is a British invention, and equally ingenious in matching its sound with the implied attitude. It is used pejoratively to refer to a young lower-class person who behaves badly and wears designer clothes (usually fake). The word first appears in print in the 1990s although its origins are obscure: it may be derived from a theatrical slang word chavy meaning 'child' or from Romany chavi meaning 'woman', either of which is more likely than a connection with the name Chatham (in Kent) which has also been proposed.

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