sous-chef

English

Etymology

From French sous-chef. Compare Italian sotto capo, which was calqued into English as underboss. Perhaps there was ultimately an unattested term *subcaput in Late Latin, with a variant *subciput.

Noun

sous-chef (plural sous-chefs)

1. (cooking) The chef underneath the head chef in the chef's hierarchy.

Coordinate terms

• chef
• line cook
• prep cook

Translations

chef underneath the head chef

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: apukokki
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• short-order cook
• executive chef
• cook

---

French

Etymology

sous- (“sub-”) +‎ chef (“chief”)

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

sous-chef m (plural sous-chefs)

1. second-in-command; right-hand-man

Descendants

• English: sous-chef

Further reading

• “sous-chef”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.