It is one of the dialects making up the Chuukic subgroup of Micronesian languages, together with its close relatives like Woleaian, and Carolinian.

[3] Chuukese has the unusual feature of permitting word-initial geminate (double) consonants.

The common ancestor of Western Micronesian languages is believed to have had this feature, but most of its modern descendants have lost it.

[4] Truk and Chuuk are a difference in orthography, and both older ⟨tr⟩ and current ⟨ch⟩ transcribe the sound [ʈʂ].

Chuukese is one of the few languages allowing for word initial double consonants:[4]