From micro- +‎ chip.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪkɹoʊˌt͡ʃɪp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

microchip (plural microchips)

1. An integrated circuit.
   1. A microprocessor.

      By the early 2020s, the strategic priority level of microchip fabrication prowess and capacity had only grown.

      • 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 360:

        The base of the antenna contains a few microchips, whose purpose Hiro cannot divine by looking at them.

      • 2017, Robert Hassan, The Age of Distraction:

        And so the microchip, say, reflects a certain electronically driven speed of society, just as the invention of a flint axe, reflected a society that was rhythmed fully by biological and environmental temporalities.

      • 2024 February 20, Sarah Wells, “Self-cooling microchip provides a tiny solution to a giant problem”, in Inverse‎^[1]:

        Previous attempts at designing self-cooling microchips have largely relied on a two-pronged approach, involving designing the cooling elements separately from the electronic elements, and then combining after the initial fabrication process.

microchip (third-person singular simple present microchips, present participle microchipping, simple past and past participle microchipped)

1. (transitive) To fit (an animal) with a microchip.
   • 1997, Paulette Cooper, Paul Noble, Jack Fleming, 277 Secrets Your Cat Wants You to Know:

     Still, doing something to protect your cat is better than doing nothing, so you should have your cat microchipped in the groin area with a registered ID.

   • 2017 September 23, “From north Wales to Norfolk, distraught beekeepers ask: who’s stealing our hives?”, in The Observer‎^[2]:

     In Britain, where the British BeeKeepers Association (BBKA) has been urging members to microchip their hives for some time, the continuing mystery and the belief that the crimes are inside jobs are taking their toll.

   • 2019 May 21, Zoltan Istvan, “A Chip in My Hand Unlocks My House. Why Does That Scare People?”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:

     In February, Skip Daly, a Democrat in the Nevada State Assembly, introduced a bill to make involuntary microchip implants illegal; he later amended it to include voluntary microchipping as well.

2. (transitive) To cause microscopic chips (abrasions) in a material.
   • 1992, ASM Materials Engineering Dictionary‎^[4]:

     Material removal occurs when the abrasive particles, suspended in the slurry, are struck on the downstroke of the vibrating tool. The velocity imparted to the abrasive particles causes microchipping and erosion as the particles impinge on the workpiece.

Borrowed from English microchip, from micro- +‎ chip.

microchip m (invariable)

1. microchip

Unadapted borrowing from English microchip.

microchip m (plural microchips) (proscribed, unadapted spelling)

1. alternative form of microchipe

• “microchip”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “microchip”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from English microchip.

• IPA^(key): /mikɾoˈt͡ʃip/ [mi.kɾoˈt͡ʃip]
• Rhymes: -ip
• Syllabification: mi‧cro‧chip

microchip m (plural microchips)

1. (electronics) microchip (small plate with a set of electronic circuits)

• “microchip”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

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