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chieftain. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
chieftain, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
chieftain in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
chieftain you have here. The definition of the word
chieftain will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
chieftain, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English cheveteyn, cheftayne, from Old French chevetaine, from Late Latin capitaneus (English captain), from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head), itself from Proto-Indo-European *kap-. Doublet of captain; related to chief.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃiːf.tən/, /ˈt͡ʃiːf.tɪn/
Noun
chieftain (plural chieftains)
- A leader of a clan or tribe.
1970, Kazimierz Godłowski, “The chronology of the Late Roman and early migration periods in Central Europe”, in Acta scientiarum litterarumque: Schedae archeologicae, Nakładem Uniwersytetu Jagiellonśkiego, page 22:They were probably the work of individual craftsmen working to meet the chieftains' needs. Their place in the chronology of the big cemeteries is indicated by the less richly-decorated double-springed bronze brooches which are found here.
- (by extension) A leader of a group.
The robber chieftain divided up the spoils.
Synonyms
- (leader of a clan or tribe): chief, big gun, big shot, big wheel, bigwig, boss, employer, foreman, head, leader, mandarin, manager, mover and shaker, top banana, top dog, tycoon
Derived terms
Translations
A leader of a clan or tribe
- Albanian: pringj m, prijës (sq) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 族長 / 族长 (zh) (zúzhǎng)
- Czech: náčelník (cs) m
- Danish: høvding c
- Dutch: stamhoofd (nl) n, opperhoofd (nl) n
- Esperanto: tribestro
- Estonian: pealik
- Faroese: ættarhøvdingur m (biblical)
- German: Häuptling (de) m
- Hungarian: törzsfőnök (hu)
- Icelandic: höfðingi (is)
- Indonesian: kepala suku (id)
- Irish: ceann fine m, taoiseach m
- Italian: capo (it) m, capotribù (it)
- Japanese: 酋長 (ja) (しゅうちょう, shūchō)
- Khmer: មេកន្ទ្រាញ (km) (me kon treanh)
- Korean: 족장(族長) (ko) (jokjang), 추장(酋長) (ko) (chujang)
- Lakota: itȟáŋčhaŋ
- Latin: procer m
- Macedonian: поглавар m (poglavar)
- Maori: rangatira (mi) m
- Middle Korean: 어비〮ᄆᆞᆮ (èpímòt)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: høvding (no) m
- Nynorsk: høvding m
- Occitan: cap (oc) m, capmèstre (oc) m
- Old Tupi: morubixaba
- Polish: wódz (pl) m
- Portuguese: cacique (pt) m, morubixaba (pt) m, tuxaua m (of Indigenous Brazilians), chefe (pt) m
- Russian: вождь (ru) m (voždʹ)
- Samoan: matai, ao (sm)
- Scots: chieftain
- Scottish Gaelic: ceann-cinnidh m
- Slovak: náčelník m, vodca m
- Spanish: cacique (es) m, caudillo (es) m, jefe (es) m, jeque (es) m, cabecilla (es) m
- Swedish: hövding (sv) c
- Tok Pisin: bigman
- Turkish: kabile reisi
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A leader of a group, e.g. a robbers' chieftain
Scots
Etymology
From Middle Scots chiftane, chyftane, from Early Scots chefftane, from Middle English cheftayne, from Old French chevetaine, from Late Latin capitaneus, from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput-.
Pronunciation
Noun
chieftain (plural chieftains)
- chieftain
- (possibly) schore; leader of a Highlands clan
References