*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of chia

Borrowed from Spanish chía, from Classical Nahuatl chiyan (“seed of the chia plant”).

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A Mexican sage grown for its edible seeds, Salvia hispanica. · Salvia columbariae, a sage with similar seeds, native to the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Borrowed from Spanish chía, from Classical Nahuatl chiyan (“seed of the chia plant”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Borrowed-form mentionchíaes
  • Derivation mentionchiyannci
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "bor",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "es",
        "3": "chía"
      },
      "expansion": "Spanish chía"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nci",
        "3": "chiyan",
        "4": "",
        "5": "seed of the chia plant"
      },
      "expansion": "Classical Nahuatl chiyan (“seed of the chia plant”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "chía",
      "chía#Spanish"
    ],
    [
      "chiyan",
      "chiyan#Classical_Nahuatl"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A Mexican sage grown for its edible seeds, Salvia hispanica.",
        "Salvia columbariae, a sage with similar seeds, native to the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "recordId": "b52899caca0f8308468af4dc93e6bb5d88894fe7c5740ba4440a7cb6a55ad0b3",
      "rawRecordSha256": "ed0bce210ea32fca559cc1ef89cf85deafe03e194f32bfd0be123b4a69ecbe4b",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 431017
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for chia →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-Y2hpYQ