Chief

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Pronunciation: /t͡ʃiːf/

Definitions

1. The person who holds the highest rank or authority in an organization or group
2. The highest-ranking official or leader who oversees an organization or group
3. The person who has the highest position of authority in a group or organization

Etymology: The word "chief" is a doublet of "head," which surprises most people, since the two look nothing alike. Both descend from the same Proto-Indo-European root, *kap-, and both passed through the same ancient Latin word "caput," meaning "head." The English word "head" came straight down through Germanic, while "chief" took a French route: Latin "caput" became "capus" in Vulgar Latin, the everyday spoken form, and then "chief" in Old French. English borrowed the word in its Old French form and wrote it "chef" in Middle English, where it was used for a leader or the topmost part of something. The spelling "chief" was adopted later, and the word has carried its sense of "head" of a group ever since, the person at the top of a hierarchy.

Synonyms: leader, head, director

Antonyms: subordinate, follower