chin

What it means

1. 1.

   A little bit. 'Un chin' is the Dominican quantity word par excellence, used of sugar, time, money, patience and space alike.

2. 2.

   Reduplicated as 'un chin chin' for a very small amount, and diminished as 'un chinito' for an even smaller one.

Examples with translations

• Échame un chin de café.

  Pour me a drop of coffee.

• Espérame un chin que ya salgo.

  Hang on a second, I'm coming.

• Muévete un chinito pa'llá.

  Shift over a tiny bit that way.

Where it comes from

Disputed. The most frequently proposed source is an African substrate word carried over by enslaved people, which would fit the Caribbean distribution, but no specific etymon has been established. The popular explanation linking it to Chinese immigration is folk etymology: the word is attested before that immigration was significant.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

chinito, chin chin