chieftain

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 and chief.

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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. (by extension) A leader of a group.

   The robber chieftain divided up the spoils.

• (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

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-.

• IPA^(key): [tʃiften]

chieftain (plural chieftains)

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

• “chieftain”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.