Gustave Flaubert notes in Madame Bovary (published in 1856) that "chicard" (one who is chic) is then Parisian very current slang for "classy" noting, perhaps derisively, perhaps not, that it was bourgeois. There is a similar word in German, schick, with a meaning similar to chic, which may be the origin of the word in French; another theory links chic to the word chicane.
Gustave Flaubert notes in Madame Bovary (published in 1856) that "chicard" (one who is chic) was then Parisian slang for "stylish," possibly with a hint of derision, and it may have originated from the bourgeois class. There is also a German word, schick, which has a similar meaning to chic; one theory suggests this French term may have derived from the German word, while another links chic to the word chicane.