chatter vs chit-chat

chatter

noun
  • Talk, especially meaningless or unimportant talk. 

  • The vocalisations of a Eurasian magpie, Pica pica. 

  • One who chats. 

  • The sound of talking. 

  • The vocalisations of various birds or other animals. 

  • The situation where a drill or similar tool vibrates and tears the material rather than cutting it cleanly. 

  • An intermittent noise, as from vibration. 

  • In national security, the degree of communication between suspect groups and individuals, used to gauge the degree of expected terrorist activity. 

  • A user of chat rooms. 

verb
  • To talk idly. 

  • To make a noise by rapid collisions. 

  • To utter sounds which somewhat resemble language, but are inarticulate and indistinct. 

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 chatter and chit-chat occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )