chieftain

chieftain

English

Etymology

From Middle English cheveteyn, cheftayne, from Old French chevetaine, from Late Latin capitaneus (English captain), from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head). Doublet of captain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃiːf.tən/, /ˈt͡ʃiːf.tɪn/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

chieftain (plural chieftains)

1. A leader of a clan or tribe.
   • 1970, Kazimierz Godłowski, “The chronology of the Late Roman and early migration periods in Central Europe”, in Acta scientiarum litterarumque: Schedae archeologicae‎, Nakładem Uniwersytetu Jagiellonśkiego, page 22:

     They were probably the work of individual craftsmen working to meet the chieftains' needs. Their place in the chronology of the big cemeteries is indicated by the less richly-decorated double-springed bronze brooches which are found here.

2. (by extension) A leader of a group.

   The robber chieftain divided up the spoils.

Synonyms

• (leader of a clan or tribe): chief, big gun, big shot, big wheel, bigwig, boss, employer, foreman, head, leader, mandarin, manager, mover and shaker, top banana, top dog, tycoon

Derived terms

• chieftainess, chieftess

Translations

A leader of a clan or tribe

Albanian: pringj m Chinese: Mandarin: 族長／族长 (zh) (zúzhǎng) Czech: náčelník (cs) m Danish: høvding c Dutch: stamhoofd (nl) n, opperhoofd (nl) n Esperanto: tribestro Estonian: pealik Faroese: ættarhøvdingur m (biblical) German: Häuptling (de) m Hungarian: törzsfőnök (hu) Icelandic: höfðingi (is) Indonesian: kepala suku (id) Irish: ceann fine m, taoiseach m Italian: capo (it) m, capotribù (it) Japanese: 酋長 (ja) (しゅうちょう, shūchō) Khmer: មេកន្ទ្រាញ (km) (me kon treanh) Korean: 족장(族長) (ko) (jokjang), 추장(酋長) (ko) (chujang) Lakota: itȟáŋčhaŋ Latin: procer m Middle Korean: 어비〮ᄆᆞᆮ (èpímòt) Norwegian: Bokmål: høvding (no) m Nynorsk: høvding m Occitan: cap (oc) m, capmèstre (oc) m Old Tupi: morubixaba Polish: wódz (pl) m Portuguese: cacique (pt) m, morubixaba (pt) m, tuxaua m (of Indigenous Brazilians), chefe (pt) m Russian: вождь (ru) m (voždʹ) Samoan: matai, ao (sm) Scots: chieftain Scottish Gaelic: ceann-cinnidh m Slovak: náčelník m, vodca m Spanish: cacique (es) m, caudillo (es) m, jefe (es) m, jeque (es) m, cabecilla (es) m Swedish: hövding (sv) c Tok Pisin: bigman Turkish: kabile reisi

A leader of a group, e.g. a robbers' chieftain

Dutch: bendeleider (nl) m Italian: capo (it) m Khmer: មេកន្ទ្រាញ (km) (me kon treanh) Occitan: cap (oc) m Portuguese: manda-chuva (pt) m or f, chefe (pt) m Russian: глава́рь (ru) m (glavárʹ), атама́н (ru) m (atamán) Spanish: líder (es) m, jefe (es) m Swedish: ledare (sv) c

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Scots

Etymology

From Early Scots chefftane, from Middle English cheftayne, from Old French chevetaine, from Late Latin capitaneus, from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tʃiften]

Noun

chieftain (plural chieftains)

1. chieftain
2. (possibly) schore; leader of a Highlands clan

References

• “chieftain” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.