jefe

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish jefe (“leader, boss”), from Old French chief, from Latin caput. Doublet of chief, chef, caput, and head.

Noun

jefe (plural jefes) (US)

1. (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

2. 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

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:jefe.

Related terms

• jefe político

 

Translations

officer with political influence

business boss

• Finnish: pomo (fi)

Spanish

Alternative forms

• gefe (obsolete)
• xefe (pre-1815)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish xefe, from Old French chief, from Latin caput. Compare Portuguese chefe. Doublet of cabo and chef.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxefe/ [ˈxe.fe]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -efe
• Syllabification: je‧fe

Noun

jefe m (plural jefes, feminine jefa or jefe, feminine plural jefas or jefes)

1. chief; president; head; leader of a business, political party, or other organization

   Synonym: superior

2. boss; supervisor; manager
3. (military) colonel; major; rank between captain and general
4. (heraldry) chief
5. (video games) boss
6. (colloquial, Mexico) dad, father

Antonyms

• subalterno m
• subordinado m

Derived terms

• general en jefe
• jefatura f
• jefazo
• jefe de estudios
• jefe de gobierno
• jefe de prensa
• jefe de redacción
• jefecito
• redactor jefe m (“editor in chief”)
• subjefe m

 

Related terms

• cabeza f
• cabo m
• capataz m
• capitán m
• chef m

 

Descendants

• → English: jefe
• → Bikol Central: hepe
• → Cebuano: hepe
• → Tagalog: hepe

See also

• coronel m
• director m
• general m
• sargento m
• supervisor m

 

Further reading

• “jefe”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Anagrams

• feje m