Old English cest "box, coffer, casket," from Proto-Germanic *kista (cognates: Old Norse and Old High German kista, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, German kiste, Dutch kist), an early borrowing from Latin cista "chest, box," from Greek kiste "a box, basket," from PIE *kista "woven container." Meaning extended to "thorax" 1520s, replacing breast, n., on the metaphor of the ribs as a box for the organs. Chest of drawers is from 1590s.