Synonyms for chat

Most common

1. Conversation — to be engaged in informal conversation

conversation, confab informal, converse formal, speak, convo informal, jaw informal, treat, discourse formal, parlay, conversate, confabulate rare, word dated, common dated

2. Chatter

3. Moot — to talk of; to discuss

talk about, moot, bespeak formal dated, betalk rare

Other

talk

v. 1
To be engaged in informal conversation.
She chatted with her friend in the cafe.
v. 2
To talk of; to discuss.
They chatted politics for a while.
v. 3
To talk a while in a friendly manner.
I met my old friend in the street, so we chatted for a while.

Word family: chatbox chatfest chatterer chattily chattiness chatty
Phrases: chat up chat shit chit-chat chat shite chat show chop and chat water cooler chat pas de chat
Other spellings: chaat

Past participle: chatted
e.g. chatted → conversationed, confabbed, conversed, convoed…

or Chat?

To chat is to talk in an easy, pleasant way, not without sense, but without special purpose.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

3 letters: jaw¹
4 letters: talk¹, word¹, moot¹
5 letters: speak¹, visit², treat¹, convo, prate
6 letters: common², gossip², waffle², babble², parlay², tattle², natter², confab, claver, kibitz, betalk
7 letters: chatter², prattle², palaver, bespeak², chaffer
8 letters: converse²
9 letters: discourse²
10 letters: conversate
11 letters: confabulate
12 letters: conversation⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (visit² = 2 syllables).