• enPR: chĕs, IPA: /t͡ʃɛs/

From Middle English ches, chesse, from Old French eschés, plural of eschec, from Medieval Latin scaccus, from Arabic شَاه, from fa-cls شاه, from Pahlavi 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠, from Old Persian 𐏋.

Compare German Schach and Italian scacchi. Compare French échecs and its descendants: Catalan escacs and Dutch schaak. More at check and shah ("king of Persia or Iran").

chess (uncountable)

1. A board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king.

• French: échecs
• German: Schach, Schachspiel
• Italian: scacchi
• Portuguese: xadrez
• Russian: ша́хматы
• Spanish: ajedrez, escaques

chess (plural chesses)

1. (now chiefly, US) Any of several species of grass in the genus Bromus, generally considered weeds.

Compare French châssis.

chess (plural chesses)

1. (military, chiefly, in the plural) One of the platforms, consisting of two or more planks dowelled together, for the flooring of a temporary military bridge.
   • 1881, Thomas Wilhelm, A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer:

     the balks are laid and covered with chesses to within 1 foot of the trestle

The river name is a back-formation from Chesham, a town at the head of the river.

1. Surname.
2. A river in Buckinghamshire, and, which joins the Colne at Rickmansworth.