The Spanish verb 'chambear' meaning 'to work' comes from the Spanish noun 'chamba' meaning 'work' or 'job', combined with the common Spanish verb suffix '-ar'. The Spanish 'chamba' itself comes from Portuguese 'chamba' which originally meant 'luck' or 'chance'. This semantic shift from 'luck' to 'work/job' likely developed as finding work was often considered a matter of luck or chance.

A simpler related Spanish word is 'chamba', which means 'work' or 'job'. This is often used in informal contexts, particularly in Latin American Spanish. While 'chambear' is the verb form meaning 'to work', 'chamba' is the noun form referring to the work or job itself.

While there aren't any commonly used English words directly related to 'chambear', it's worth noting that both English and Spanish have many words related to work that evolved from different roots. The informal nature of 'chambear' makes it somewhat similar in usage to English informal work-related terms like 'to hustle' or 'to grind', though these aren't etymologically related.