Entry · catalog no. 2007
chirp
/ tʃɜːrp /CHURP
noun · Jazz circuit / nationwide · 1930s
✓ Verified
1.
A female singer with a band.
“The band was tight, but the chirp is who filled the room.”
Origin & Attribution
Swing-era jazz slang for a female vocalist, documented in Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary. Bandleaders and musicians used it plainly for the woman singing with the outfit; "chirp" could also verb — to sing. A working word from the Black music business of the 1930s–40s.
1930s
Musicians' term for a girl singer
1938
In Calloway's jive lexicon
1940s
Common in the swing-band trade
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Jazz circuit / nationwide · 1930s
Spoken by
Black jazz musicians
$CHIRPThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Faded89 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
48/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1937
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
See also