# Is this etymology for cheerio correct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2021, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009 "2021-11-27T03:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/1 "2021-11-27T03:12:19Z")
I just read a factoid about the etymology of the word cheerio and I’m dubious. It claimed the word has nothing to do with cheer. It’s supposedly originated in a period when well-to-do people rode around in [sedan chairs](https://www.museumfacts.co.uk/the-sedan-chair/) (those fancy chairs with poles on the sides that servants carried). And when one of these people stepped outside to travel somewhere, they yelled out “Chair, ho!” to summon a sedan chair. Because people said this as they were leaving, the term was shortened to cheerio and became something people said as they departed a location even when they weren’t traveling by sedan chair. As I said, I am dubious. ---
**Author:** ![Kedikat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kedikat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kedikat)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/2 "2021-11-27T03:22:24Z")
Nevermind. Misinterpreted the question. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/3 "2021-11-27T03:24:13Z")
Oxford English Dictionary says it’s an alteration of “cheero.” Cheero is from “cheer, ho,” which is “used to express good wishes on parting, typically in a cheerful or friendly manner” or “used as a friendly greeting or a call to attract attention.” So nothing to do with chairs. How boring. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/4 "2021-11-27T03:53:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Because people said this as they were leaving, the term was shortened to cheerio Call me dubious as chair ho is two syllables and cheerio is three so it’s hardly shorter. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/5 "2021-11-27T06:45:32Z")
Chair-ho is what they used to call lap dancers. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/6 "2021-11-27T14:10:38Z")
Was there ever any time when English-speaking people routinely rode sedan chairs? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/7 "2021-11-27T14:29:09Z")
For the record, if you don’t have access to the OED, you can always check [etymonline.com](http://etymonline.com). They often have much of the same basic information, and they do state it comes from the word “cheer.” The factoid smelled of a typical cutesy false etymology story, and the OP was right to be dubious. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/8 "2021-11-27T14:36:37Z")
Sounds like the setup for a good thread game: false etymologies. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/9 "2021-11-27T21:00:07Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Sounds like the setup for a good thread game: false etymologies There was a BBC radio show - ‘[My Word!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Word!)’ - with exactly that premise, back in the days when we all got around in sedan chairs. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/10 "2021-11-27T21:29:30Z")
When Mr. Lorry summons a carriage in _A Tale of Two Cities_, he shouts “Chair there!” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/11 "2021-11-28T00:00:10Z")
I think it was back before the sun set on the British Empire. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/12 "2021-11-28T01:36:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Was there ever any time when English-speaking people routinely rode sedan chairs?   Benjamin Franklin did, as tangentially mentioned in this book: > **[Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutiona…](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101065.Miracle_at_Philadelphia)** > > A classic history of the Federal Convention at Philadel… (Franklin was an old man at the time, afflicted with arthritis.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/13 "2021-11-28T02:52:48Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Benjamin Franklin did, as tangentially mentioned in this book No, Franklin was riding the other kind of chair ho’s. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/14 "2021-11-28T06:31:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Was there ever any time when English-speaking people routinely rode sedan chairs? Back when well-to-do people had to deal with muddy, unpaved streets. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/15 "2021-11-28T09:33:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Was there ever any time when English-speaking people routinely rode sedan chairs? [Very much so](https://janeaustensworld.com/2008/11/02/sedan-chairs-an-efficient-mode-of-transportation-in-georgian-london/) - around the Restoration up to the Georgian/Regency period, especially in cities like London, Edinburgh and Bath. They were useful in narrower streets, and were cheaper to hire than a cab (although the wealthy would have their own private ones). But the OP’s factoid (at least, the factoid the OP is suspicious of) sounds like bullshit. For one thing, if you could afford a chair, you weren’t the one calling it, your footman would. Why would you use the call your _servant_ used as a greeting to others of your own station? _Hoi polloi_, of course, didn’t call for chairs, they made their own way to a chair station or chair house (I’ve seen one of the Bath ones). ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/16 "2021-11-28T15:09:18Z")
No, it did evolve from “cheero” to “cheerio”, probably influenced by “cheery”. But it was always “cheer” as in “What cheer?” ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/17 "2021-11-28T15:19:55Z")
Yes, “chairs” (often without the “sedan”) are frequently mentioned in novels, _etc.,_ as a means of transport. The proposed etymology is apparently rubbish, but there’s no doubt that sedan chairs were in use. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/18 "2021-11-28T15:37:39Z")
Pity the poor peasant who applied for a job at the manor as a chairman rather than a footman because the job sounded easier. ---
**Author:** ![Smudge777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Smudge777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smudge777)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/19 "2021-11-29T01:13:10Z")
pulykamell mentioned etymonline; I’d like to add wiktionary. [Link to etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/cheerio) [Link to wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cheerio) I find both to be quite excellent sources of etymological insight. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009/20 "2021-11-29T04:56:41Z")
Is a sedan chair the same as a litter, or something different? Wikipedia doesn’t have a page for “sedan chair”, but does have a page for “Litter”, which seems to include sedan chair as a sub-type. > [@](#): > > The wealthy used sedan chairs in the cities of colonial America. One example is an ailing 81-year-old [Benjamin Franklin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin) travelled to meetings of the United States [Constitutional Convention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Convention_(United_States)) in 1787 in a sedan chair carried by four prisoners.[[20]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_(vehicle)#cite_note-20) > **[Litter (vehicle) | In the Americas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_(vehicle)#In_the_Americas)** > > The wealthy are recorded to have used sedan chairs in the cities of colonial America and the early period of the United States. In 1787, Benjamin Franklin, at the time 81 years old, gouty, and in generally declining health, is noted to have travelled to meetings of the United States Constitutional Convention in a sedan chair carried by four prisoners. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-etymology-for-cheerio-correct/955009.md?page=2)