chef

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃɛf/, /t͡ʃɛf/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French chef (“head”), short for chef de cuisine (“head of the kitchen”),^[2][3][4] from Old French chief (“leader, head”) (see chief), from Latin caput (“head”).^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A head cook: 1826, in Disraeli's Vivian Grey;^[2] 1840 in MWU, 1842 in the OED and Etymonline.^[6][7][3]

Semantic evolution

Any professional cook, especially in a restaurant or hotel, is now a chef.^[8][5] The verb, to work as a chef, is from 1912 in MWU.^[6] English had earlier borrowed the same French word as chief.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1826 – a head cook, in Disraeli.^[2]
• 1912 – the verb.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A professional cook, especially the chief cook in a restaurant or hotel.

Word family

• chefdom

Related words

• chef de cuisine
• chief
• chieftain
• capital
• sous-chef

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin