Meaning & use
chanty
Last updated
UK/ˈʃænti/
US/ˈʃænti/
Meaning
nouncountablemusic
A rhythmic song that sailors used to sing while pulling ropes or doing other heavy work together on a ship.
Grammar: Countable: a chanty, many chanties.
Patterns
- sing a chanty
- a sea chanty
The crew sang a chanty as they hauled up the anchor.
Folk singers still perform old chanties from the age of sail.
The sea chanty had a call and a response that kept the sailors in time.
Word forms
| plural | chanties |
|---|
Common combinations
- sea chanty
- We learned a sea chanty at the maritime museum.
- sing a chanty
- The sailors sang a chanty to keep time.
- hauling chanty
- A hauling chanty was sung while raising the sails.
- traditional chanty
- The band played a traditional chanty.
- chanty singer
- The old chanty singer knew a hundred verses.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shanty
- Shanty is the more common modern spelling of the same word.
- chantey
- Chantey is another variant spelling, found in older books.
- work song
- Work song is broader and covers songs from any group doing labor, not only sailors.
- sea song
- Sea song can be any song about the sea, not necessarily one sung during work.
Word family
- chantey noun
- a variant spelling
- shanty noun
- the most common spelling
- chanteyman noun
- the sailor who led the singing
Commonly confused: chanty or shanty?
chanty vs shanty
Shanty also means a crude hut, as in shantytown, but chanty with a c always means the sailors' song.
Practice
What did sailors sing a chanty for?
Choose one answer.
Chanties set a rhythm for hauling and other group work. The other options are not their purpose.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chanty”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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