chef
Pluralchefs
Pluralchefs
- 1Any person who cooks, whether at home or professionally.
Even an amateur chef can master a simple omelet with practice.
Each member of the household took turns as chef for the evening.
Similarcook
- 2The head cook in charge of the kitchen of a restaurant, hotel, or large household.
The chef expedited every order before it left the kitchen.
She worked her way up to head chef at a celebrated bistro.
UsageCommon titles: head chef, executive chef, chef de cuisine.
Note
Strictly speaking, a head chef is a "head head": the word already means the leader, from French chef, "head". The phrase is standard all the same. Chef has widened to cover any cook at all, so head chef now marks the person at the top of a kitchen rather than one cook among several. Thackeray's "angry little chef" of Sir Francis Clavering's culinary establishment shows the older, narrower use.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- English chef comes from French chef, meaning head or leader; this explains the literal 'head head' observation. en.wiktionary.org
- Thackeray uses 'angry little chef' for the cook of Sir Francis Clavering's establishment in The History of Pendennis. The words belong to the narration. gutenberg.org
- 3To work professionally preparing and cooking food in a kitchen.
She has cheffed at several acclaimed kitchens across the country.
They chef together at a small bistro near the harbor.
UsageSpelled cheffed, cheffing (sometimes chefed), usually with at + a workplace: cheffed at a bistro.
Similarcook
Note
The verb is on record by 1953, when The Deke Quarterly wrote of someone who cheffed at a club steak fry. Today it usually describes cooking as a job, often in a restaurant kitchen.
Less common meanings
- 4A person who manufactures illegal drugs, often in a makeshift lab.
Police said the chef had been cooking meth in a trailer behind the house.
He served as the gang's chef, cooking batches in a rented basement.
UsageUsually after the drug's name: meth chef, LSD chef. In neutral writing, say manufacturer.
Similarcook
Note
Drug-trade slang borrows the kitchen because illegal drugs are said to be cooked, and a chef is simply a cook with a reputation. It can carry grudging admiration, as when Mike Power's Drugs 2.0 (2013) calls Owsley Stanley the world's most exacting LSD chef.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Mike Power wrote Drugs 2.0, first published in 2013. mikepower.pressfolios.com
- Power describes Owsley Stanley as the world's most exacting LSD chef. en.wiktionary.org
- 5To stab someone with a knife or similar sharp blade.
"He got cheffed outside the station last night," his friend told the police.
In the track, he raps about boys on the estate who would chef you over a stolen phone.
UsageOften with up: chef him up, got cheffed up. Outsiders may hear the cooking verb.
Similarstab, shank, jab, shiv, thrust
Note
Street slang from Multicultural London English, heard in lyrics such as ASAP of 67's "Skeng Man". When Louis Theroux was told in 2017 that someone would "chef me up," he replied that he wasn't hungry.
- 6To make a strong, favorable impression on other people.
- 7A reliquary made in the shape of a head, used to hold a saint's relics.
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Origin
An unadapted borrowing from French chef (from titles like chef de cuisine, 'head of the kitchen'), from Old French chief ('head, leader'), from Vulgar Latin capus ('head'), from Latin caput ('head'). It is a doublet of cape, capo, caput, and chief, and is related to head through Proto-Indo-European.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 8 facts
- English chef is an unadapted borrowing from French chef. en.wiktionary.org
- The borrowing derives from titles including chef de cuisine, meaning 'head of the kitchen'. en.wikipedia.org
- Chef de cuisine literally means 'head of the kitchen'. en.wiktionary.org
- French chef derives from Old French chief, meaning 'head, leader'. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French chief derives from Vulgar Latin capus, ultimately from Latin caput. en.wiktionary.org
- Capus means 'head' and is a later form of Latin caput. en.wiktionary.org
- Chef is a doublet of cape, capo, caput, and chief; cape here means a geographical headland. en.wiktionary.org
- Chef and head share an origin through Proto-Indo-European. en.wiktionary.org