What is a "chav" ? The word is not in my Merriam - Webster dictionary. Ethnology, plurals etc. All help appreciated.?

Chav stands for Council Houses and Violence.

They are the young idiots with 10 kids who do nothing but wait for welfare to pay for their parties in the pub.

It is a slang word and is often used in the UK.

The Oxford English dictionary defines it as 'A young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour'.

The plural is 'chavs'.

Edit: Also no one will ever agree on the word origin, some will claim it has romany roots, some will say it's an acronym, etc.

The original definition was a young working class person who likes to wear casual sports clothes. but now it is usually a word for a juvenile delinquent.