• Slang – Chav
  • Meaning – A young person who behaves like a lout and is a bit of a troublemaker. Young – usually British – people who wear athletic clothes and gold chains, listen to rap or dance music and like to drink cheap alcohol. They often cause trouble and are not interested in education.
  • A female chav can also be known as a chavette.
  • This is British English slang.
  • Other expressions for young people who cause trouble include:
    • Hooligan
    • Lout
    • Ruffian
    • Scally
    • Scallywag
    • Yob
  • The word chav obviously has negative connotations – so  use with caution.  Some believe that this word is used to generalise working class people or poor people in a negative manner. Check out a BBC article about this issue: Why is ‘chav’ still controversial?
Example:
  • “I called the police last night because I saw a bunch of chavs hanging around my new bimmer!”
In The News:

Waitrose stopping free coffees amid ‘chav‘ complaints