chief

English Online Dictionary. What means chief‎? What does chief mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English cheef, chef, from Old French chef, chief (“leader”), from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput (“head”) (from which also captain, chieftain), from Proto-Italic *kaput, from Proto-Indo-European *káput.

Doublet of cape (“point of land”), capo, caput, and chef through Latin (possibly also related to cape (“sleeveless garment”) and cap (“head covering”) from Latin cappa); doublet of head and Howth through Proto-Indo-European.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃiːf/
• Rhymes: -iːf

Noun

chief (plural chiefs)

2. The leader or head of a tribe, organisation, business unit, or other group. [from 13th c.]

3. (uncountable, only with "in") Headship, the status of being a chief or leader.

4. (heraldry) The top part of a shield or escutcheon; more specifically, an ordinary consisting of the upper part of the field cut off by a horizontal line, generally occupying the top third. [from 15th c.]
5. The principal part or top of anything.
6. (sometimes ironic) An informal term of address.
   1. (offensive) An informal term of address for a Native American or First Nations man.

Synonyms

• chieftain
• See also Thesaurus:boss

Hyponyms

• chiefess, chieftess (female chief)

Derived terms

English terms starting with “chief”

Related terms

• captain
• chef
• chieftain

Descendants

• → Japanese: チーフ (chīfu)
• → Swahili: chifu

Translations

Adjective

chief (comparative chiefer or more chief, superlative chiefest or most chief)

1. Primary; principal.
2. (Scotland) Intimate, friendly.

Translations

Verb

chief (third-person singular simple present chiefs, present participle chiefing, simple past and past participle chiefed)

1. (slang) To smoke cannabis.

See also

References

• “chief v.²”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

• cheif, fiche, fiché

Middle English

Noun

chief

1. alternative form of chef

Adjective

chief

1. alternative form of chef

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French chief.

Noun

chief m (plural chiefs)

1. head

Descendants

• French: chef (see there for further descendants)

Old French

Alternative forms

• cap (Occitanism found in La Vie de Saint Léger, circa 980)
• chef, cief

Etymology

First known attestation 881 in The Sequence of Saint Eulalia. From Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʃjeːf/

Noun

chief oblique singular, m (oblique plural chiés, nominative singular chiés, nominative plural chief)

1. (anatomy) head
2. leader, chief
3. front (foremost side of something)

Descendants

• Middle French: chief
  • French: chef (see there for further descendants)
• Norman: chef
• → Middle English: chef
  • English: chief (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: chief
• → Old Spanish: xefe
  • Spanish: jefe, gefe (obsolete), xefe (pre-1815)
    • → English: jefe
    • → Bikol Central: hepe
    • → Cebuano: hepe
    • → Tagalog: hepe
  • → Asturian: xefe
  • → Galician: xefe
  • → Portuguese: chefe