Meanings
plural chalices · alternative calice
- A large drinking cup, often having a stem and base and used especially for formal occasions and religious ceremonies.
[W]e but teach / Bloody Inſtructions, which, being taught, returne / To plague th' Inuentor. This euen-handed Iuſtice / Commends th' Ingredience of our poyſon'd Challice / To our owne lips.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vii], page 135, column 1Synonyms: goblet
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA large drinking cup, often having a stem and base and used especially for formal occasions and religious ceremonies.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- substrate
- Ancient Greekκύλιξ
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)kel-
- Proto-Italic*(s)kalik-
- Latincalix, calicem“cup”
- Old Frenchchalice
- Middle Englishchalis
- Englishchalice
From Middle English chalis, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French chalice, collateral form of calice, borrowed from Latin calix, calicem (“cup”), of uncertain etymology. In view of Umbrian skalçeta (“sacrifical vessel”), perhaps from a Proto-Italic *(s)kalik-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel-. Pokorny considered a parallel formation in Sanskrit कलश (kaláśa-, “(water-)jar, tub, pot, dish”), for Proto-Indo-European *kel-eḱ-, but De Vaan finds this unlikely. Alternatively, borrowed from Ancient Greek κύλιξ (kúlix) or an unattested variant thereof, maybe with contamination from κάλυξ (kálux, “shell, calyx”), but it is also possible that all were borrowed from related substrate words. Possible doublet of calyx and kelch. Compare Sumerian 𒃲(GAL).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic صُوَاع
- صُوَاع (ṣuwāʕ)large drinking cup
Bulgarian поти́р, ку́бок
- поти́р (potír)large drinking cup
- ку́бок (kúbok)large drinking cup
Catalan calze
- calzelarge drinking cup
Chinese Mandarin 聖爵 /圣爵
- 聖爵 /圣爵 (shèngjué)large drinking cup
Czech kalich
- kalichlarge drinking cup
Danish kalk
- kalklarge drinking cup
Dutch kelk
- kelklarge drinking cup
Esperanto kaliko
- kalikolarge drinking cup
Estonian karikas
- karikaslarge drinking cup
Finnish kalkki, malja
- kalkkilarge drinking cup
- maljalarge drinking cup
- pikarilarge drinking cup
French calice
- calicelarge drinking cup
German Kelch
- Kelchlarge drinking cup
Greek κύπελλο, δισκοπότηρο
- κύπελλο (kýpello)large drinking cup
- δισκοπότηρο (diskopótiro)large drinking cup
Hebrew גָּבִיעַ
- גָּבִיעַ (gavía)large drinking cup
Hindi चषक
- चषक (caṣak)large drinking cup
Hungarian kehely
- kehelylarge drinking cup
Icelandic kaleikur
- kaleikurlarge drinking cup
Indonesian cawan, kaliks
- cawanlarge drinking cup
- kalikslarge drinking cup
- pialalarge drinking cup
- tuwunglarge drinking cup
Italian calice
- calicelarge drinking cup
Japanese 聖爵
- 聖爵 (seishaku)large drinking cup
Korean 성작
- 성작 (seongjak)large drinking cup
Latin calix
- calixlarge drinking cup
Norwegian kalk
- kalklarge drinking cup
Persian ساتگینی
- ساتگینی (sâtgini)large drinking cup
Polish kielich, puchar
- kielichlarge drinking cup
- pucharlarge drinking cup
Portuguese cálice, cálix
- cálicelarge drinking cup
- cálixlarge drinking cup
Romanian caliciu, potir
- caliciularge drinking cup
- potirlarge drinking cup
Russian поти́р, ку́бок
- поти́р (potír)large drinking cup
- ку́бок (kúbok)large drinking cup
- ча́ша (čáša)large drinking cup
Slovak kalich, pohár
- kalichlarge drinking cup
- pohárlarge drinking cup
Spanish cáliz
- cálizlarge drinking cup
Swedish kalk
- kalklarge drinking cup
Tagalog kalis
- kalislarge drinking cup
Turkish kadeh
- kadehlarge drinking cup
Ukrainian поти́р, ку́бок
- поти́р (potýr)large drinking cup
- ку́бок (kúbok)large drinking cup
- ча́ша (čáša)large drinking cup
- ке́лих (kélyx)large drinking cup
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with chalice
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
chalice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chalice
“chalice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chalice. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chalice,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chalice.
Source: chalice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.