A rare Middle English term of uncertain meaning; possibly a variant or corrupted spelling of another word.
From Middle English; the etymology is highly uncertain and cannot be reliably traced through available linguistic records.
Medieval scribes had no spell-checkers, so words sometimes got copied with errors so consistent that scribes didn't realize—'chesoun' might be a copying mistake that became 'standard.'
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.