Chassis

How to spell chassis

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce chassis

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does chassis mean?

1. nounThe base frame of a motor vehicle or other equipment, onto which the body and working parts are mounted.

Chassis in a sentence

• Rust had eaten into the steel chassis beneath the old van.

• The mechanic raised the car to inspect the chassis for damage.

Where does chassis come from?

Language of origin: French

Chassis came into English from French in the early twentieth century, where it meant a frame or framework, especially the supporting frame of a vehicle. The French word traces back to the Old French chassiz, meaning a window frame or casing, which grew from the Latin capsa, literally 'a box' or 'a case' (the same root that gives English 'case' and 'capsule'). Originally the French term described any rigid surrounding frame, and it was carried over into English first for the base frame of a carriage and then, as motoring took off, for the load-bearing frame of a car. The French spelling was kept intact, which is exactly why it traps writers: the unexpected double 's', the silent ending, and the same form for singular and plural all survive from French. Because the final 's' is silent in speech, the written word looks very different from how it sounds.

How the word is built

• chass- (from Latin capsa: box, case)
• -is (French ending)