chef

noun

ˈshef 

plural chefs

1

: a skilled professional cook

a trained chef

specifically : one who is in charge of a professional kitchen

I wrote to the chef of an acclaimed New American restaurant on the Upper East Side about my food experiences. He invited me to spend a few days in the kitchen on a trial basis.

—Adam Shatz

2

: cook

chef intransitive verb

chefdom

ˈshef-dəm 

noun

Synonyms

• cook
• baker

Examples of chef in a Sentence

The hotel's chef trained at the finest culinary institutes in Europe.

He's the head chef at a five-star restaurant.

a celebrity chef with her own TV show

My friend is an excellent chef.

Recent Examples on the Web

Sandoval is head of the Croque Group and comes from three generations of chefs. —John Mariani, Forbes.com, 8 July 2025

International artists, chefs and designers arrived, scooping up inexpensive studio spaces, opening restaurants and integrating themselves into the city’s imaginative nightlife. —Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2025

At any sushi restaurant, vegetarians are limited to very few items on the menu, usually a simple cucumber maki or the chef’s sole vegetarian roll. —Irene Milanez, Sacbee.com, 7 July 2025

Murano will be an offshoot of the chef’s namesake Ferraro’s Kitchen Restaurant and Wine Bar in Miami and Blue Ridge, Georgia, and will feature dishes such as sea scallop gratin, zucchini rolls with shrimps and polpo alla Adriatica. —Phillip Valys, Sun Sentinel, 7 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

French, short for chef de cuisine head of the kitchen

First Known Use

1826, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing chef

• chef de cuisine
• chef d'oeuvre
• chef's kiss
• chef's knife
• chef's salad
• executive chef
• sous chef

Rhymes for chef

• clef
• deaf
• ref

Kids Definition

chef

noun

ˈshef 

1

: a chief cook

2

: cook entry 1