Champing at the bit for the year to normalise. Not so.

Post author:Iza Grek
Post published:January 7, 2026
Post category:Common English mistakes / Editing / Idioms / Origin of words / Professional writing services / Write better English

Champing at the bit

I would be quite happy to wallow in December slumber for another week or so and not have to get anything done. But as I received an email from an already productive team saying they were ‘chomping at the bit’, this jarred me and inspired some grammar nerd activity to set them and everybody else straight.

It’s not chomping at the bit. It’s champing!!!!

Alas, few English idioms are used as often—and misunderstood as frequently—as “champing at the bit.” You’ve probably heard it (or said it) to describe someone who’s eager, restless, or impatient to get started. But you’ve just as likely heard a slightly different version: “chomping at the bit.”

The phrase “champing at the bit” comes straight from the world of horse riding and horsemanship, and it dates back several centuries.

Get the bit

A bit is the metal bar placed in a horse’s mouth, connected to the reins. When a horse is excited, impatient, or restrained from moving forward, it may champ—that is, repeatedly bite down on the bit, producing froth or foam around the mouth.

A chew

The verb “to champ” is an old English word meaning to bite or chew noisily, especially in a repetitive or impatient way. Written examples of the phrase appear as early as the 16th century, firmly rooted in literal observation rather than metaphor.

Over time, the physical image became figurative. By the 17th and 18th centuries, “champing at the bit” was being used to describe people who were eager to act but held back by circumstances.

In modern usage, “champing at the bit” means:

Being eager to start something
Feeling impatient or restless
Wanting to move forward but being restrained

Here’s where things get interesting.

“Chomping” means chewing vigorously, often with noise. It’s a perfectly good word—but historically, it’s not the word used in this idiom.

The widespread use of “chomping at the bit” is best explained as a case of folk etymology. Since most modern speakers are more familiar with chomp than champ, the phrase gradually shifted to something that sounds more intuitive.

Technical accuracy

In everyday speech, “chomping” feels more natural, and many people assume it must be correct. As a result, “chomping at the bit” has become extremely common, especially in American English.

You can trust the Americans to distort and ‘refine’. Hence ‘chomping at the bit has found its way into common usage, assumed to be correct, and accepted as a variant in some circles.

In my strict code of language the correct phrase is ‘champing at the bit’ and it had just better stay that way, or I might have a horse come out of its reigns!!