See also: Chef, chèf, and chef-

English edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
  • IPA(key): /ʃɛf/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛf

Noun edit

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.
  3. Any cook.
    My husband 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.

Usage notes edit

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 edit

Hypernyms edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Verb edit

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)

  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.
    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 2019-11-06:
      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.

Descendants edit

  • Russian: ше́фнуть (šéfnutʹ)

References edit

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

Basque edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

Pronunciation edit

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

Noun edit

chef anim

  1. chef (head cook)
    Synonym: sukaldariburu

Declension edit

Further reading edit

  • "chef" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], euskaltzaindia.eus

Danish edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈsjɛːˀf/, [ˈɕeˀf]

Noun edit

chef c (singular definite chefen, plural indefinite chefer)

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

Dutch edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

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.

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

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

French edit

 
French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology edit

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.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

chef m (plural chefs)

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

Derived terms edit

Noun edit

chef m (plural chefs, feminine cheffe)

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

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

Further reading edit

Italian edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

Noun edit

chef m (invariable)

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

Related terms edit

References edit

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

Further reading edit

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

Middle English edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Old French chief, from Latin caput.

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

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.
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
References edit

Adjective edit

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.
Descendants edit
References edit

Adverb edit

chef

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

Etymology 2 edit

Noun edit

chef

  1. Alternative form of chaf

Norman edit

Etymology edit

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

Noun edit

chef m (plural chefs)

  1. (Jersey) chief

Derived terms edit

Old French edit

Noun edit

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

  1. Alternative form of chief

Portuguese edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

Pronunciation edit

 
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈʃɛ.fi/, /ˈʃɛf/
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈʃɛf/, /ˈʃɛ.fi/
 

Noun edit

chef m or f by sense (plural chefs)

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

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

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

Noun edit

chef n (plural chefuri)

  1. (good) disposition, mood
    a nu avea chef de cevato 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

Declension edit

See also edit

Spanish edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

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

Noun edit

chef m or f by sense (plural chefs)

  1. chef, head cook

Usage notes edit

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.

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

Swedish edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from French chef.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

chef c

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

Usage notes edit

False friend with chef, see kock.

Declension edit

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

Derived terms edit