Meanings
proper noun
- A market town and civil parish with a town council in Buckinghamshire, England, previously in Chiltern district (OS grid ref SP9501).
- An unincorporated community in the town of Harrisville, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States.
Origin
- Old Englishcastel“pile of stones, castle”
- EnglishChesham
First attested as Cæstæleshamm before the year 970, probably from Old English castel (“pile of stones, castle”) + hamm (“water meadow”). By surface analysis, Chess + -ham, whence the local pronunciation, referring to the River Chess in Buckinghamshire, though the river was named after the settlement.
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
Chesham. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chesham
MLA
“Chesham.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chesham. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Chesham,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chesham.
Source: Chesham on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.