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
Noun edit
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.
- a. 1845, R. H. Barham, Blasphemer's Warning in Ingoldsby Legends (1847), 3rd Ser., 245
- 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, 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 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
- (cook, particularly a learned or skilful one): magirist, magirologist (obs.)
Hypernyms edit
- (cook): cook
Derived terms edit
- autochef
- chef de cuisine
- chef de mission
- chef de rang
- chef d'oeuvre
- chef-d'œuvre
- chef d'œuvre
- chefdom
- chefess
- cheffer
- cheffery
- cheffy
- chefless
- cheflike
- chefling
- chefly
- chefmanship
- Chef Mike
- chef salad
- cheftender
- chefware
- chef watcher
- chefwear
- head chef
- nonchef
- pastry chef
- robochef
- short-order chef
- station chef
- subchef
- superchef
- uberchef
- underchef
Translations edit
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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)
- (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.
- (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
- ^ “chef”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Basque edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from French chef.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
chef anim
- chef (head cook)
- Synonym: sukaldariburu
Declension edit
indefinite | singular | plural | |
---|---|---|---|
absolutive | chef | chefa | chefak |
ergative | chefek | chefak | chefek |
dative | chefi | chefari | chefei |
genitive | chefen | chefaren | chefen |
comitative | chefekin | chefarekin | chefekin |
causative | chefengatik | chefarengatik | chefengatik |
benefactive | chefentzat | chefarentzat | chefentzat |
instrumental | chefez | chefaz | chefez |
inessive | chefengan | chefarengan | chefengan |
locative | — | — | — |
allative | chefengana | chefarengana | chefengana |
terminative | chefenganaino | chefarenganaino | chefenganaino |
directive | chefenganantz | chefarenganantz | chefenganantz |
destinative | chefenganako | chefarenganako | chefenganako |
ablative | chefengandik | chefarengandik | chefengandik |
partitive | chefik | — | — |
prolative | cheftzat | — | — |
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
Noun edit
chef c (singular definite chefen, plural indefinite chefer)
- 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)
- A boss, chief, head, leader.
- Synonym: baas
- A culinary chef, a head cook.
- Synonym: chef-kok
- Short for a title including chef.
- (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
French edit
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)
- (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 edit
Noun edit
chef m (plural chefs, feminine cheffe)
- 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 edit
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
- → Arabic: شيف (šēf)
- → Catalan: xef
- → Crimean Tatar: şef
- → Danish: chef
- → Greek: σεφ (sef)
- → Dutch: chef
- → English: chef
- → German: Chef
- → 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
- → Yiddish: שעף (shef)
Further reading edit
- “chef”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian edit
Alternative forms edit
- scef (uncommon)
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)
- (cooking) chef (head cook)
- Synonym: capocuoco
- (by extension) a sophisticated cook
Related terms edit
References edit
- ^ 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)
- 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 edit
Descendants edit
References edit
- “chẹ̄f, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.
Adjective edit
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 edit
References edit
- “chẹ̄f, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.
Adverb edit
chef
- (rare) Principally, (the) most.
References edit
- “chẹ̄fe, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
chef
- 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)
Derived terms edit
- chef dé deu (“chief mourner”)
- chef dé musique (“conductor”)
Old French edit
Noun edit
chef oblique singular, m (oblique plural ches, nominative singular ches, nominative plural chef)
- Alternative form of chief
Portuguese edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from French chef.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
chef m or f by sense (plural chefs)
- 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)
- (good) disposition, mood
- desire, wish
- (figuratively) appetite
- whim, caprice
- shindig, blowout,
- revelry, binge; by extension, drunkenness
Declension edit
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 |
See also edit
Spanish edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from French chef. Doublet of jefe and cabo.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
chef m or f by sense (plural chefs)
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
- “chef”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from French chef.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
chef c
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 |