jefe
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Spanish jefe (“leader, boss”), from Old French chief, from Latin caput. Doublet of chief, chef, caput, and head.
Noun
[edit]- (informal) An officer with political influence; a head or chief in government, such as a sheriff, particularly where that person is Hispanic or of Mexican descent.
- 1887, Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Central America, History Company, page 153:
- Antonio Rivera Cabezas was chosen vice-jefe in March 1830.
- 1898, Southern Pacific Company Passenger Department, Sunset, Sunset Magazines Inc. (1912), pages 313-314
- before he stepped forward uttering the stereotyped greeting, the Texan had put him down as the jefe or head man....
- Snatching up the rifle he lit out after the jefe, who had left two jumps ahead of the smoke.
- 1900, United States War Department, Annual Reports of the War Department, U.S. Government Printing Office:
- Hilario Saño, a suspect, resident here but much doubted by the jefe local, was put to the test
- A boss in a business, company, or other organization.
- 1982 January, George Durham, Taming the Nueces Strip: The Story of McNelly's Rangers, University of Texas Press, page 120:
- “They ain’t going to deliver the cattle across.... They’ve taken too much of a beating as it is. They’ve lost their big jefe and lots of men.”
- 1998 June, Thomas Miller Klubock, Contested communities: Class, Gender, and Politics in Chile's El Teniente Copper Mine, 1904-1948, Duke University Press, page 147:
- When they were slacking off in the mine, for example, and a jefe arrived unexpectedly, they shouted loro (parrot) or fuego (fire) as warning signals.
- 2004 December, Jeffrey Harris Cohen, The Culture of Migration in Southern Mexico, University of Texas Press:
- A jefe in this sense is a mentor, a person who is often a compadre of the migrant.... In any case, a jefe is not a loan shark
- 2005 May, Monica Rico, EMails that Go Nowhere, Google Mail.
- A jefe in this sense refers to a true boss, the leader of the household, also known as Jose Rico.
Quotations
[edit]- For quotations using this term, see Citations:jefe.
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]officer with political influence
Spanish
[edit]
Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Old Spanish xefe, from Old French chief, from Latin caput. Compare Portuguese chefe. Doublet of cabo and chef.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]jefe m (plural jefes, feminine jefa or jefe, feminine plural jefas or jefes)
- chief; president; head; leader of a business, political party, or other organization
- Synonym: superior
- boss; supervisor; manager
- (military) colonel; major; rank between captain and general
- (heraldry) chief
- (video games) boss
- (colloquial, Mexico) dad, father
Antonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]See also
[edit]- coronel m
- director m
- general m
- sargento m
- supervisor m
Further reading
[edit]- “jefe”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Anagrams
[edit]- feje m
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Spanish
- English terms derived from Spanish
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English
- English informal terms
- English terms with quotations
- en:Leaders
- en:People
- Spanish terms inherited from Old Spanish
- Spanish terms derived from Old Spanish
- Spanish terms derived from Old French
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish doublets
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Spanish terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/efe
- Rhymes:Spanish/efe/2 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- es:Military ranks
- es:Heraldic charges
- es:Video games
- Spanish colloquialisms
- Mexican Spanish
- es:Leaders
- es:Occupations
- Spanish terms of address