chi·a (ch???)n. Either of two aromatic annual plant species (Salvia columbariae or S. hispanica) in the mint family, native to Mexico and the southwest United States and having clusters of blue or violet flowers and edible seedlike fruits.[American Spanish chía, from Nahuatl chiah.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.chia (?t???) n (Plants) a plant of the genus Salvia, indigenous to Mexico, with purple or blue flowers and edible seedsCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014