Meanings
plural chefs
- The head cook of a restaurant or other establishment.
The cause of the disturbance, it appeared, was the angry little chef of Sir Francis Clavering's culinary 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 - Any cook.
My partner is the chef of the household, while I do most of the cleaning.
1 more example
The videos are easy to follow — and short. His style is consistent and effective; his recipes have built a microcosm of predominantly young, first-time chefs with a penchant for TikTok-able entertainment. “I’m just a regular guy, and not a chef at all,” Nguyen said.
2020 May 7, Genesia Ting, “How Newton Nguyen is inspiring a young generation of home chefs”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 May 2020 - slangOne who manufactures illegal drugs; a cook.
But trying to stop all the nation's meth chefs makes as much sense as building a wall along the Mexican border.
1998, SPIN, volume 14, number 3, page 1001 more example
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.
2013, Mike Power, Drugs 2.0Synonyms: magirist, magirologist
present singular third person chefs · participle present cheffing · participle past cheffed · past cheffed
- informalstativeTo work as a chef; to prepare and cook food professionally.
I cheffed part-time at a nice restaurant in town.
1996, Sonora Review, number 31, page 1103 more examples
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 […]
1953, The Deke Quarterly, volume 71, number 4, page 32He opened Oakleys in 2002, having formerly cheffed at the late, much-missed Something Different and, before that, world-renowned kitchens in Chicago […]
2007, Indianapolis Monthly, page 68A man called Richard Briggs cheffed at the Globe Tavern on Fleet Street, the White Hart Tavern in Holborn and the Temple Coffee House.
2020, William Sitwell, The Restaurant: A History of Eating Out, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN - Multicultural London EnglishtransitiveTo stab with a knife, to shank.
He got cheffed up proper.
5 more examples
Still on my knife work chef him up with that rambo
2016, “Skeng Man”, ASAP of 67 (lyrics)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.
2017 June 13, @louistheroux, Twitter, archived from the original on 08 Nov 2023He got cheffed in the A in the head
2018 August 9, “Pallance 2.0”, Taze of SMG (lyrics)Third time he was out of luck He tripped up and got cheffed
2018 August 16, “Ks On Who”, Sav12 of 12World (lyrics)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.
2019 October 9, Manuel Petrovic, quotee, “Jodie Chesney: Killer targeted 'wrong people' court told”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 06 Nov 2019Synonyms: ching, splash, chib, ching, chive, enthrill, foin, gore
- InternetTo impress others.
thinkin' that I be cheffin'.'
2020, “Drip Like Me”, performed by Kenndog
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOne who manufactures illegal drugs; a cook.
verbTo stab with a knife, to shank.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kap-?
- Proto-Indo-European*kap-
- Proto-Indo-European*káput
- Proto-Italic*kaput
- Latincaput
- Vulgar Latincapus
- Old Frenchchief
- Middle Frenchchief
- Frenchchef
- Englishchef
Unadapted borrowing from French chef (from the positions of chef d'office and chef de cuisine), 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.
More words from French, Old French, Vulgar Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans sjef
- sjefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Arabic طَاهٍ, طَاهِي
- طَاهٍ (ṭāhin)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- طَاهِي (ṭāhī)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- شِيف (šīf)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- طَاهِيَة (ṭāhiya)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Bengali বাবুর্চি
- বাবুর্চি (baburci)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Bulgarian гла́вен готва́ч
- гла́вен готва́ч (gláven gotváč)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Catalan xef
- xefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Chinese Cantonese 廚師 /厨师, 大廚 /大厨
- 廚師 /厨师 (cyu⁴ si¹, ceoi⁴ si¹)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- 大廚 /大厨head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Chinese Mandarin 廚師 /厨师
- 廚師 /厨师 (chúshī)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Czech šéfkuchař
- šéfkuchařhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Dutch chef-kok
- chef-kokhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Esperanto ĉefkuiristo
- ĉefkuiristohead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Estonian peakokk
- peakokkhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Finnish keittiömestari, kokki
- keittiömestarihead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- kokkihead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
French chef cuisinier, chef
- chef cuisinierhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- chefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
German Chefkoch, Chefköchin
- Chefkochhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- Chefköchinhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- Küchenchefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- Küchenchefinhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Greek αρχιμάγειρος
- αρχιμάγειρος (archimágeiros)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Hebrew שֶׁף
- שֶׁף (shef)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Hindi बावरची
- बावरची (bāvarcī)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Hungarian séf
- séfhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Icelandic kokkur, yfirmatsveinn
- kokkurhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- yfirmatsveinnhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- matreiðslumaðurhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- matsveinnhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Italian chef, capocuoco
- chefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- capocuocohead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Japanese 料理人, 調理師
- 料理人 (ryōrinin)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- 調理師 (chōrishi)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- シェフ (shefu)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- コック (kokku)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Korean 요리사, 료리사
- 요리사 (yorisa)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- 료리사 (ryorisa)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- 주방장 (jubangjang)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- 셰프 (syepeu)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Latvian šefpavārs
- šefpavārshead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Lithuanian vyriausias virėjas, šefas
- vyriausias virėjashead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- šefashead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Norwegian Bokmål kjøkkensjef
- kjøkkensjefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Persian سرآشپز
- سرآشپز (sar-âšpaz)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Polish szef kuchni, szefowa kuchni
- szef kuchnihead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- szefowa kuchnihead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- kuchmistrzhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- kuchmistrzynihead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Portuguese chef
- chefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Romanian bucătar-șef
- bucătar-șefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Russian шеф-по́вар, по́вар
- шеф-по́вар (šef-póvar)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- по́вар (póvar)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- ста́рший ко́к (stáršij kók)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Slovak šéfkuchár
- šéfkuchárhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Spanish chef
- chefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Swahili mpishi mkuu
- mpishi mkuuhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Swedish köksmästare, kock
- köksmästarehead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- kockhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Thai หัวหน้าพ่อครัว, เชฟ
- หัวหน้าพ่อครัว (hǔua-nâa-pɔ̂ɔ-kruua)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- เชฟ (chéep)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Turkish şef
- şefhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Ukrainian шеф-куха́р
- шеф-куха́р (šef-kuxár)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Urdu باورچی, آش پز
- باورچی (bāvarcī)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- آش پز (āś-paz)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- طباخ (tabbāx)head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Vietnamese bếp trưởng
- bếp trưởnghead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Welsh cogydd, pen-cogydd
- cogyddhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- pen-cogyddhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
- sièffhead cook of an establishment such as a restaurant
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with chef
All rhymes →Cite this entry
chef. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chef
“chef.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chef. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chef,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chef.
Source: chef on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.