Chic is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s, that has come to mean smart or stylish. Early references in English dictionaries classified it as slang and the New Zealand-born lexicographer Eric Partridge noted, with reference to its colloquial meaning, that it was "not so used in Fr[ench]."Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, several ed 1937-61 There is a similar word in German, schick, meaning tact or skill; indeed chic may be linked to the word chicane.