Crossword Dictionary

chic

chic, smart, voguish - a 
elegant and stylish; "chic elegance"; "a smart new dress"; "a suit of voguish cut" 

wordplays

synonyms

buzz, craze, dernier cri, enthusiasm, fad, fashion, flavor, go, hot ticket, last word, latest, mode, rage, sensation, style, ton, trend, vogue

in a sentence

It's the height of chic this year.  

mockumentaries are the latest filmmaking chic

The café has a chic new look.  

a chic new hairstyle that makes her look very sophisticated

merriam-webster

etymology

1856, "style in fine art, artistic skill, faculty of producing excellence rapidly and easily," from French chic "stylishness" (19c.), originally "subtlety" (16c.), which is of unknown origin. Perhaps [Klein] it is related to German Schick, Geschick "tact, skill, aptness," from Middle Low German schikken "arrange appropriately," or Middle High German schicken "to arrange, set in order." Or perhaps it is from French chicane, from chicanerie "trickery" (see chicanery).

Meaning "Parisian elegance and stylishness combined with originality" is by 1882 ("Pall Mall Gazette," 1888, calls it "an untranslatable word, denoting an indispensable quality"). As an adjective, in reference to persons, "stylish," 1879 in English. "Not so used in F[rench]" [OED].

etymonline