Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also shishi) homosexual; pertaining to homosexuality.

1925		R. McAlmon Distinguished Air (1963) 10: Foster [...] was pleased with the new wardrobe he had bought there, careful this time to see that every garment had a chichi touch. The trousers he wore were drawn in at the waist and pleated there. The coat was padded smoothly at the shoulders, so that the descending line to the waist gave his figure a too obvious hour-glass appearance.
1970		J.P. Stanley ‘Homosexual Sl.’ in AS XLV:1/2 56: chichi; shishi adj Homosexual.
1985		K. Vacha Quiet Fire 189: At that time ‘gay’ was a secret password. Code words were carefully parceled out. ‘Chi chi’ was another.
2004		Beanie Man [song title] Bad Man, Chi Chi Man.
2004		Beanie Man ‘Han Up Deh’ 🎵 Hang chi chi gal wid a long piece of rope.
2008		A. Wheatle Dirty South 2: Even gay people or chi chi men as we call them on the road.

2. (also sheesh, shee shee) affected, pretentious, ‘pretty-pretty’.

1932		‘R. Scully’ Scarlet Pansy 186: ‘Something gorgeous, simply devastating,’ Percy Chichi called it.
1944		E. Wilson 18 Mar. [synd. col.] Her [i.e. Marlene Dietrich] uniform cap and her overseas cap were made for her by the chi-chi John-Frederics hat outfit which does not turn out a hat for less than $35.
1949		J.H. Burns Lucifer with a Book 68: Now these glasses, she knew, were a trifle chi-chi.
1958		E. Dundy Dud Avocado (1960) 142: Teasing me about [...] my friendship with Lee Harrison (whom he found chi-chi and affected).
1960		J. Blake letter 8 Feb. in Joint (1972) 159: On the surface he’s maybe a trifle chichi, but basically sound and discerning.
1966		C. Wood Fill the Stage With Happy Hours (1967) Act IV: You’ll be having a bloody Bertolt Brecht seat next. Bloody shee shee nonsense.
1969		C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 131: Passing [...] the arty, chichi section of antique shops, French restaurants [and] expensive pederasts on Third Avenue.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 149: fussy, respectable, proper, overly preoccupied with one’s conception of correctness. Syn: chi-chi.
1986		B. Geldof Is That It? 214: We stayed in bed and breakfast places rather than chi-chi hotels.
2001		Observer Escape 4 Mar. 12: A boat trip to Devonport, a chi-chi suburb across the water.
2013		New Yorker 15 Apr. 44/1: An overwritten, chi-chi, and rather silly novel.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 298/1: sheesh showy, fussy, elaborately ornamented or affected.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 162: [of an over-accessorized automobile] Why do anybody want shit this chichi?
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 773: Now the mill’s a chichi hotel hidden behind willow trees.