chef

Unadapted borrowing from French chef (from the positions of chef d'office and chef de cuisine),^[1] from Old French chief (“head, leader”) (English chief), from Vulgar Latin capus (“head”) (from which also captain, chieftain), from Latin caput (“head”) (possibly related to English cap (“head covering”)).

Doublet of cape, capo, caput, and chief through Latin, and head and Howth through Proto-Indo-European.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛf/, (spelling pronunciation) /t͡ʃɛf/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛf

chef (plural chefs)

1. The presiding cook in the kitchen of a large household.
   • a. 1845, R. H. Barham, Blasphemer's Warning in Ingoldsby Legends (1847), 3rd Ser., 245

     The Chef's peace of mind was restor'd, And in due time a banquet was placed on the board.

2. The head cook of a restaurant or other establishment.
   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Which Is Both Quarrelsome and Sentimental”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 266:

     The cause of the disturbance, it appeared, was the angry little chef of Sir Francis Clavering's culinary establishment.

3. Any cook.

   My partner is the chef of the household, while I do most of the cleaning.

4. (slang) One who manufactures illegal drugs; a cook.
   • 1998, SPIN, volume 14, number 3, page 100:

     But trying to stop all the nation's meth chefs makes as much sense as building a wall along the Mexican border.

   • 2013, Mike Power, Drugs 2.0:

     Owsley Stanley, the world's most exacting and prolific LSD chef who supplied the majority of America's West Coast with LSD in the 1960s, claimed he made so much acid not because he wanted to change the world, but rather because it was almost impossible not to make vast quantities of the drug once the synthesis had been embarked upon.

5. (historical) A reliquary in the shape of a head.

When used in reference to a cook with no sous-chefs or other workers beneath him, the term connotes a certain degree of prestige—whether culinary education or ability—distinguishing the chef from a “cook”. As a borrowing, chef was originally italicized, but such treatment is now obsolete. Within a catering establishment, the head cook (and no-one else) will normally be addressed simply as "chef" as a term of respect.

• (cook, particularly a learned or skilful one): magirist, magirologist (obs.)

• (cook): cook

• → Afrikaans: sjef
• → Malay: cef
• → Maltese: xeff
• → Thai: เชฟ (chéep)

chef (third-person singular simple present chefs, present participle cheffing, simple past and past participle cheffed)

1. (stative, informal) To work as a chef; to prepare and cook food professionally.
   • 1953, The Deke Quarterly, volume 71, number 4, page 32:

     It was Brick who talked on alumni relations with the active chapters and who cheffed at our steak fry (more of that later) and Mrs. Cowles who took over  […]

   • 1996, Sonora Review, number 31, page 110:

     I cheffed part-time at a nice restaurant in town.

   • 2007, Indianapolis Monthly, page 68:

     He opened Oakleys in 2002, having formerly cheffed at the late, much-missed Something Different and, before that, world-renowned kitchens in Chicago […]

   • 2020, William Sitwell, The Restaurant: A History of Eating Out, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     A man called Richard Briggs cheffed at the Globe Tavern on Fleet Street, the White Hart Tavern in Holborn and the Temple Coffee House.

2. (MLE, transitive) To stab with a knife, to shank.

   Synonyms: ching, splash; see also Thesaurus:stab

   He got cheffed up proper.

   • 2016, “Skeng Man”, ASAP of 67 (lyrics):

     Still on my knife work chef him up with that rambo

   • 2017 June 13, @louistheroux, Twitter‎^[1], archived from the original on 8 November 2023:

     Child just said he'd "chef me up". I said not hungry, but it restored my faith in young generation, offering to cook for strangers.

   • 2018 August 9, “Pallance 2.0”, Taze of SMG (lyrics):

     He got cheffed in the A in the head

   • 2018 August 16, “Ks On Who”, Sav12 of 12World (lyrics):

     Third time he was out of luck
     He tripped up and got cheffed

   • 2019 October 9, Manuel Petrovic, quotee, “Jodie Chesney: Killer targeted 'wrong people' court told”, in BBC News‎^[2], archived from the original on 6 November 2019:

     Asked how he knew that, he replied: "Uh? Because I know that ... It was to do with Svenson's op - they cheffed him up a couple of month or something, a couple of months before.

3. (Internet slang) To impress others.
   • 2020, “Drip Like Me”, performed by Kenndog:

     thinkin' that I be cheffin'.'

• →⇒ Russian: ше́фнуть (šéfnutʹ)

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃef/ [t͡ʃef], /ʃef/ [ʃef]
• Rhymes: -ef
• Hyphenation: chef

chef anim

1. chef (head cook)

   Synonym: sukaldariburu

• “chef”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsjɛːˀf/, [ˈɕeˀf]

chef c (singular definite chefen, plural indefinite chefer)

1. A boss; person in charge, person who directly oversees the work being done

   Synonym: (informal) boss

• overordnet
• foresat

• “chef” in Den Danske Ordbog

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: chef
• Rhymes: -ɛf

chef m (plural chefs, diminutive chefje n, feminine cheffin)

1. a boss, chief, head, leader

   Synonym: baas

2. a culinary chef, a head cook

   Synonym: chef-kok

3. Short for a title including chef.
4. (Suriname) A form of address to a working-class man

   Chef, halte hoor.

   Driver, I'd like to get off the bus here.

• chef-kok
• sergeant-chef
• stationschef

• → Caribbean Javanese: sèf
• → Indonesian: sep
• → Javanese: ꦱꦺꦥ꧀ (sèp)
• → Papiamentu: shèf

Inherited from Middle French chief, from Old French chief, from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Italic *kaput, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kauput-, *kaput-. Doublet of cap.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛf/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Agen)):

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• Audio (France (Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost)):

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛf
• Homophones: cheffe, cheffes, chefs

chef m (plural chefs)

1. (now literary) head

   opiner du chef

   to nod

2. article, principal point

   les principaux chefs d’une demande

   the main points of a request

3. principal motive, charge, count of indictment

   Le procureur a tenu à refaire une lecture des chefs d’accusation.

   The prosecutor insisted on reading off the counts of indictment again.

4. (heraldry) chief; top third of a coat of arms

   d'or au chef de gueules

   or, a chief gules

chef m (plural chefs, feminine cheffe)

1. a boss, chief, leader

   Le pape est le chef de l’Église.

   The pope is the head of the church.

2. a culinary chef, chief cook

   Créant dans des établissements de prestige de nombreuses recettes reprises ensuite par d'autres chefs, Escoffier a fait connaitre internationalement la cuisine française.

   Creating in prestigious establishments caused many of his recipes to be later taken up by other cooks, and thus Escoffier made French cuisine internationally known.

• achever
• achèvement

• “chef”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• scef (uncommon)

Unadapted borrowing from French chef (“head; chief”), from Middle French chief, from Old French chief, from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Italic *kaput, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *káput. Doublet of capo.

• IPA^(key): ^*/ˈʃɛf/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɛf

chef m (invariable)

1. (cooking) chef (head cook)

   Synonym: capocuoco

2. (by extension) a sophisticated cook

• sous-chef

• chef in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

From Old French chief, from Latin caput.

• cheef, cheefe, chefe, chief, chif, chife, chyeef, chyff

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃeːf/

chef (uncountable)

1. A leader, boss, or director; a chief official; one in charge.
2. An authority or source of power; something which controls.
3. The main, important or foundational part of something.
4. The upper or topmost portion of something.
5. (heraldry) The heraldic chief.

• English: chief (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: chief

• “chẹ̄f, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 September 2018.

chef (plural and weak singular cheve, comparative chever, superlative chevest)

1. Chief, head, top-ranking, executive; being in ultimate control.
2. Principal, foremost, predominant, primary; having the greatest importance.
3. High-quality, outstanding, notable, worthy; deserving recognition.
4. (rare) Infamous; grave.

• English: chief
• Scots: chief

• “chẹ̄f, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 September 2018.

chef

1. (rare) Principally, (the) most.

• “chẹ̄fe, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 September 2018.

chef

1. alternative form of chaf

From Old French chief, chef, from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput-, *kaput-.

chef m (plural chefs)

1. (Jersey) chief

• chef dé deu (“chief mourner”)
• chef dé musique (“conductor”)

chef oblique singular, m (oblique plural ches, nominative singular ches, nominative plural chef)

1. alternative form of chief

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

chef m or f by sense (plural chefs)

1. alternative form of chefe (the head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant)

• “chef”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish كیف (keyf), from Arabic كَيْف (kayf). Compare Turkish keyif.

chef n (plural chefuri)

1. (good) disposition, mood

   a nu avea chef de ceva ― to not feel like/be in the mood for something

2. desire, wish
3. (figuratively) appetite
4. whim, caprice
5. shindig, blowout,
6. revelry, binge; by extension, drunkenness

• (disposition) dispoziție
• (wish): dorință
• (appetite): poftă
• (caprice): capriciu, dambla
• (shindig): petrecere, zaiafet
• (drunkenness): beție

Unadapted borrowing from French chef. Doublet of jefe and cabo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃef/ [ˈt͡ʃef]
  • Syllabification: chef
• IPA^(key): /ˈʃef/ [ˈʃef]
• Rhymes: -ef

chef m or f by sense (plural chefs)

1. chef, head cook

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “chef”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Manuel Seco; Olimpia Andrés; Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023), “chef”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

• IPA^(key): /ɧeːf/, /ɧɛːf/

chef c

1. A boss, manager; person in charge, person who directly oversees the work being done

False friend with chef, see kock.

• avdelningschef
• butikschef
• försäljningschef
• mellanchef