chieftain

English

Etymology

From Middle English cheveteyn, cheftayne, a variant of Old French chevetaine, from Late Latin capitaneus (English captain), from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head). Doublet of captain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʃiːf.tən/, /ˈtʃiːf.tɪn/

Noun

chieftain (plural chieftains)

1. 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^[1], 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.

2. A leader of a group.

   The robber chieftain divided up the spoils.

Synonyms

• (A very powerful person): 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

• chieftainess

Translations

A leader of a clan or tribe

• 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
• Khmer: មេកន្ទ្រាញ (km) (me kon treanh)
• Lakota: itȟáŋčhaŋ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høvding (no) m

  Nynorsk: høvding m

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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 m
• Swedish: hövding (sv) c
• Tok Pisin: bigman

A leader of a group, e.g. a robbers' chieftain

• Dutch: bendeleider (nl) m
• Italian: capo (it) m
• Khmer: មេកន្ទ្រាញ (km) (me kon treanh)
• Occitan: cap (oc) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: manda-chuva (pt) m or f, chefe (pt) m
• Russian: глава́рь (ru) m (glavárʹ), атама́н (ru) m (atamán)
• Spanish: líder (es) m, jefe (es) m
• Swedish: ledare (sv) c

The name of a British military tank

• Russian: Чи́фтен m (Číften)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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Scots

Etymology

From Middle English cheftayne, from Old French chevetaine, from Late Latin capitaneus, from Latin caput (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tʃiften]

Noun

chieftain (plural chieftains)

1. chieftain
2. (possibly) schore; leader of a Highlands clan