sous-chef

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.

sous-chef (plural sous-chefs)

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

• chef
• line cook
• prep cook

• cook
• executive chef
• short-order cook
• underchef

From sous- (“sub-”) +‎ chef (“chief”).

• IPA^(key): /su.ʃɛf/

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sous-chef m (plural sous-chefs, feminine sous-cheffe)

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

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

Unadapted borrowing from French sous-chef (“second-in-command”).

• IPA^(key): /suʃˈʃɛf/
• Rhymes: -ɛf

sous-chef m (invariable)

1. (cooking) sous-chef

   Synonym: sottocuoco

• chef