chat vs chit-chat

chat

noun
  • Informal conversation. 

  • A louse (small, parasitic insect). 

  • Any of various small Old World passerine birds in the muscicapid tribe Saxicolini or subfamily Saxicolinae that feed on insects. 

  • A chat room. 

  • An exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, resembling a face-to-face conversation. 

  • A small potato, such as is given to swine. 

  • Mining waste from lead and zinc mines. 

  • The entirety of users in a chat room or a single member thereof. 

  • Any of several small Australian honeyeaters in the genus Epthianura. 

  • A conversation to stop an argument or settle a situation. 

verb
  • To talk more than a few words. 

  • To talk of; to discuss. 

  • To be engaged in informal conversation. 

  • To exchange text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, as if having a face-to-face conversation. 

chit-chat

noun
  • Light conversation; casual talk, usually about trivial matters. 

  • Gossip. 

verb
  • To engage in small talk, to discuss unimportant matters. 

How often have the words chat and chit-chat occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )