chef

See also: Chef, chèf, and chef-

English

Etymology

Borrowed 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”) (English cap (“head covering”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head). Doublet of chief and caput.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʃɛf/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛf

Noun

chef (plural chefs)

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.
The head cook of a restaurant or other establishment.
- 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XXVIII, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, OCLC 2057953, page 266:
  The angry little chef of Sir Francis Clavering's culinary establishment.
Any cook.
- My husband is the chef of the household, while I do most of the cleaning.
(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.
(historical) A reliquary in the shape of a head.

Usage notes

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.

Synonyms

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

Hypernyms

(cook): cook

Derived terms

chef de cuisine
chef de mission
chef de rang
chef d'oeuvre
chef d'œuvre
chef-d'œuvre
chefly
chef salad
chef watcher
head chef
pastry chef
short-order chef
station chef

Translations

head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant

Afrikaans: sjef
Albanian: gjellëtar (sq) m
Arabic: طَاهٍ‎ m (ṭāhin) (indefinite), طَاهِي‎ m (ṭāhī) (construct), شِيف‎ m (šīf), طَاهِيَة‎ f (ṭāhiya)
Hijazi Arabic: شيف‎ m (šēf), طَبَّاخ‎ m (ṭabbāḵ)
Armenian: շեֆ-խոհարար (šef-xoharar)
Azerbaijani: baş aşpaz
Belarusian: шэф-куха́р m (šef-kuxár)
Bengali: বাবুর্চি (bn) (baburci)
Bulgarian: гла́вен готва́ч m (gláven gotváč)
Catalan: xef m
Chechen: юургйийриг (juwrgjiirig)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 廚師, 厨师 (cyu⁴ si¹, ceoi⁴ si¹), 大廚, 大厨 (daai⁶ cyu^4-2, daai⁶ ceoi^4-2)
Mandarin: 廚師／厨师 (zh) (chúshī)
Min Nan: 廚師, 厨师 (tû-su), 廚子師, 厨子师 (tô͘-chí-sai), 廚子 (zh-min-nan) (tô͘-chí), 刀子 (to-chí), 總舖師 (zh-min-nan), 总铺师 (chóng-phò͘-sai), 總舖, 总铺 (chóng-phò͘)
Czech: šéfkuchař m
Dutch: chef-kok (nl) m
Esperanto: ĉefkuiristo
Estonian: peakokk
Finnish: keittiömestari (fi), kokki (fi)
French: chef cuisinier (fr) m, chef (fr) m
Galician: xefe de cociña m
Georgian: მზარეული (mzareuli), შეფ-მზარეული (šep-mzareuli), შეფი (ka) (šepi)
German: Chefkoch (de) m, Chefköchin (de) f, Küchenchef (de) m, Küchenchefin (de) f
Greek: αρχιμάγειρος (el) m (archimágeiros)
Hebrew: שֶׁף‎ (he) m (shef)
Hindi: बावरची (hi) m (bāvarcī)
Hungarian: séf (hu)
Icelandic: kokkur (is) m, yfirmatsveinn m, matreiðslumaður m, matsveinn m
Ido: koqueyestro (io)
Italian: capocuoco (it) m
Japanese: 料理人 (ja) (りょうりにん, ryōrinin), 調理師 (ja) (ちょうりし, chōrishi), シェフ (shefu), コック (ja) (kokku)
Khmer: ចុងភៅធំ (congphɨw thom)
Korean: 요리사(料理師) (ko) (yorisa), 료리사(料理師) (ryorisa) (North Korea), 주방장(廚房長) (jubangjang), 셰프 (syepeu)
Latvian: šefpavārs m
Lithuanian: vyriausias virėjas m, šefas m
Macedonian: шеф на кујна m (šef na kujna)
Maltese: xeff m
Manx: ard-choagyrey m
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: please add this translation if you can
Navajo: chʼiyáán ííłʼíní
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kjøkkensjef m
Nynorsk: kjøkensjef m, kjøkkensjef m
Persian: سرآشپز‎ (fa) (sar-âšpaz)
Polish: szef kuchni m, kucharz (pl) m
Portuguese: chef (pt) m or f
Romanian: bucătar-șef m
Russian: шеф-по́вар (ru) m (šef-póvar), по́вар (ru) m (póvar), ста́рший ко́к (ru) (stáršij kók) (ship's cook)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: главни кувар m
Roman: glavni kuhar m
Slovak: šéfkuchár m
Slovene: glavni kuhar m, glavna kuharica f
Spanish: chef (es) m
Swahili: mpishi mkuu
Swedish: köksmästare (sv) c, kock (sv) c
Thai: หัวหน้าพ่อครัว (hǔua-nâa-pɔ̂ɔ-kruua), เชฟ (chéep)
Turkish: şef (tr)
Ukrainian: шеф-куха́р m (šef-kuxár)
Urdu: باورچی‎ m (bāvarcī)
Uyghur: ئاشپەز‎ (ug) (ashpez)
Vietnamese: bếp trưởng
Volapük: (♂♀) kvisinal, (♂) hikvisinal, (♀) jikvisinal
Welsh: cogydd (cy) m or f, pen-cogydd m or f ('head-chef'), sièff m or f

Verb

chef (third-person singular simple present chefs, present participle cheffing or (now less common) chefing, simple past cheffed, past participle cheffed or (now less common) chefed)

(stative, informal) To work as a chef; to prepare and cook food professionally.
- 1953, The Deke Quarterly, volume 71, issue 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, issue 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.
(MLE, transitive) To stab with a knife, to shank.
- 2016, ASAP of 67 (lyrics), “Skeng Man”:
  Still on my knife work chef him up with that rambo
- 2018 August 9, Taze of SMG (lyrics), “Pallance 2.0”:
  He got cheffed in the A in the head
- 2018 August 16, Sav12 of 12World (lyrics), “Ks On Who”:
  Third time he was out of luck
  He tripped up and got cheffed

Descendants

→ Russian: ше́фнуть (šéfnutʹ)

References

“chef”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French chef.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsjɛːˀf/, [ˈɕeˀf]

Noun

chef c (singular definite chefen, plural indefinite chefer)

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

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French chef.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʃɛf/
chef (file)
Hyphenation: chef
Rhymes: -ɛf

Noun

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

A boss, chief, head, leader.
Synonym: baas
A culinary chef, a head cook.
Synonym: chef-kok
Short for a title including chef.

Derived terms

chef-kok
sergeant-chef
stationschef

Descendants

→ Caribbean Javanese: sèf
→ Indonesian: sep
→ Papiamentu: shèf

French

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʃɛf/
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ɛf
Homophones: cheffe, cheffes, chefs

Noun

chef m (plural chefs)

D'or au chef de gueules, qui est des Seigneurs de Wiltz.

(now literary) head
opiner du chef
to nod
article, principal point
Les principaux chefs d’une demande.
The main points of a request.
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.
(heraldry) chief; top third of a coat of arms

Derived terms

au premier chef
chef d'accusation
chef de bande
chef de cabinet
chef de chœur
chef de file
chef de guerre
chef de projet
chef d'État
chef-d’œuvre
chef d'orchestre
chef-lieu
couvre-chef
derechef
de son chef
de son propre chef
en chef
opiner du chef
rédacteur en chef
rédactrice en chef

Noun

chef m (plural chefs, feminine cheffe)

Le Chef de l’Hôtel Chatham, William Orpen, 1921.

a boss, chief, leader
Le pape est le chef de l’Église.
The pope is the head of the church.
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.

Derived terms

adjudant-chef
chef de bande
chef de famille
chef de file
chef d'entreprise
chef de partie
chef d'État
chef d'état-major
chef d'orchestre
cheffe
chefferie
cheftaine
commandant en chef
couteau de chef
en chef
ingénieur en chef
sergent-chef
sous-chef

Descendants

→ Arabic: شيف‎ (šēf)
→ Catalan: xef
→ Crimean Tatar: şef
→ Danish: chef
→ Dutch: chef
→ English: chef
→ German: Chef
- → Serbo-Croatian: ше̏ф/šȅf
→ Hungarian: séf
→ Italian: chef
→ Japanese: シェフ (shefu)
→ Luxembourgish: Chef
→ Norwegian: sjef
→ Polish: szef
→ Portuguese: chef, chefe
→ Romanian: șef
→ Russian: шеф (šef), шефъ (šef)
- → Armenian: շեֆ (šef)
→ Spanish: chef
→ Swedish: chef
→ Turkish: şef

Italian

Alternative forms

scef (uncommon)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): ^*/ˈʃɛf/[1]
Rhymes: -ɛf

Noun

chef m (invariable)

(cooking) chef (head cook)
Synonym: capocuoco
(by extension) a sophisticated cook

Related terms

sous-chef

References

chef in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French chief, from Latin caput.

Alternative forms

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tʃeːf/

Noun

chef (uncountable)

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

Related terms

bonchef
chefly
cheveteyn
myschef

Descendants

English: chief
Scots: chief

References

“chẹ̄f, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

Adjective

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

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

Descendants

English: chief
Scots: chief

References

“chẹ̄f, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

Adverb

chef

(rare) Principally, (the) most.

References

“chẹ̄fe, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

Noun

chef

Alternative form of chaf

Norman

Etymology

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

Noun

chef m (plural chefs)

(Jersey) chief

Derived terms

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

Old French

Noun

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

Alternative form of chief

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French chef. Doublet of chefe, cabo, and caput.

Noun

chef m or f by sense (plural chefs)

chef (the head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant)

Romanian

Etymology

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

Noun

chef n (plural chefuri)

(good) disposition, mood
a nu aveachef de ceva ― to not feel like/be in the mood for something
desire, wish
(figuratively) appetite
whim, caprice
shindig, blowout,
revelry, binge; by extension, drunkenness

Declension

Declension of chef

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) chef	cheful	(niște) chefuri	chefurile
genitive/dative	(unui) chef	chefului	(unor) chefuri	chefurilor
vocative	chefule		chefurilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French chef. Doublet of jefe and cabo.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

chef m or f (plural chefs)

a chef, head cook

Related terms

jefe
cabeza

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French chef.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɧeːf/, /ɧɛːf/
audio (file)

Noun

chef c

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

Usage notes

False friend with chef, see kock.

Declension

Declension of chef
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	chef	chefen	chefer	cheferna
Genitive	chefs	chefens	chefers	chefernas

Derived terms

avdelningschef
butikschef
försäljningschef
mellanchef

[1] “chef”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

[2] Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

chef

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Synonyms

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

Descendants

References

Danish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Dutch

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

Further reading

Italian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Related terms

References

Further reading

Middle English

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Related terms

Descendants

References

Adjective

Descendants

References

Adverb

References

Noun

Norman

Etymology

Noun

Derived terms

Old French

Noun

Portuguese

Etymology

Noun

Romanian

Etymology

Noun

Declension

See also

Spanish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Related terms

Further reading

Swedish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Declension