different between whole vs chief

English

Alternative forms

• hole (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English h?l (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”) (compare West Frisian hiel, Low German heel/heil, Dutch heel, German heil, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hel, Norwegian Nynorsk heil), from Proto-Indo-European *kóylos (“healthy, whole”). Compare Welsh coel (“omen”), Breton kel (“omen, mention”), Old Prussian kails (“healthy”), Old Church Slavonic ???? (c?l?, “healthy, unhurt”). Related to hale, health, hail, hallow, heal, and holy.

The spelling with wh-, introduced in the 15th century, was for disambiguation with hole, and was absent in Scots.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /h??l/, [h???], [h???]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ho?l/, [ho??]
• Homophone: hole
• Rhymes: -??l

Adjective

whole (comparative wholer or more whole, superlative wholest or most whole)

1. Entire, undivided.

   Synonyms: total; see also Thesaurus:entire

   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond

     During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]
   1. Used as an intensifier.

      I brought a whole lot of balloons for the party.   She ate a whole bunch of french fries.

      • 2016, Rae Carson, Like a River Glorious, HarperCollins (?ISBN):

        There, a huge blue heron stands sentry like a statue, eye on the surface, waiting for his next meal to wriggle by. A lone grassy hill overlooks it all, well above the flood line, big enough to pitch a whole mess of tents [on].

      • 2011, Keith Maillard, Looking Good: Difficulty at the Beginning, Brindle and Glass (?ISBN):

        I'm thinking, thanks a whole fuck of a lot, Robert. You could have laid that on me weeks ago.

2. Sound, uninjured, healthy.

   Synonyms: hale, well; see also Thesaurus:healthy

   • 1939, Alfred Edward Housman, Additional Poems, X, lines 5-6

     Here, with one balm for many fevers found, / Whole of an ancient evil, I sleep sound.

3. (of food) From which none of its constituents has been removed.

4. (mining) As yet unworked.

Translations

Adverb

whole (comparative more whole, superlative most whole)

1. (colloquial) In entirety; entirely; wholly.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:completely

Translations

Noun

whole (plural wholes)

1. Something complete, without any parts missing.

   Synonyms: entireness, totality; see also Thesaurus:entirety

   Meronym: part

2. An entirety.

Translations

Derived terms

Further reading

• All and whole — Linguapress online English grammar

References

• whole at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Howle, howel

English

Etymology

From Middle English chef, borrowed from Old French chief (“leader”), from Vulgar Latin capus (from which also captain, chieftain), from Latin caput (“head”) (English cap (“head covering”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?i?f/
• Rhymes: -i?f

Noun

chief (plural chiefs)

2. A leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc. [from 13th c.]
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 4:

     My father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a chief by both blood and custom.

   All firefighters report to the fire chief.

3. (heraldry) The top part of a shield or escutcheon; more specifically, an ordinary consisting of the upper part of the field cut off by a horizontal line, generally occupying the top third. [from 15th c.]
   • 1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry:

     When the Chief is Charged with any figure, in blazon it is said to be "On a Chief".

4. The principal part or top of anything.
5. An informal term of address, sometimes ironic.

   Hey, chief.

Synonyms

• chieftain
• chiefess (female chief)
• See also Thesaurus:boss

Derived terms

Pages starting with “chief”.

Related terms

• captain
• chef
• chieftain

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (ch?fu)
• ? Swahili: chifu

Translations

Adjective

chief (comparative chiefer or more chief, superlative chiefest or most chief)

1. Primary; principal.
2. (Scotland) Intimate, friendly.
   • 2006, James Robertson: The Testament of Gideon Mack, p 324:

     'You’re doing it because she was your friend, not because she was a parishioner, and certainly not because of the Declaratory Articles,' Macmurray said, pushing himself forward on his seat. 'Everybody knows how chief you and she were. It was an unfitting relationship for a minister while she was alive, and it is equally unfitting for you to do her a favour like this now she's dead.'

Translations

Verb

chief (third-person singular simple present chiefs, present participle chiefing, simple past and past participle chiefed)

1. (US, slang) To smoke cannabis.
   • 2012, Marquis "Cream" Cureton, When the Smoke Clears (page 268)

     He chiefed on the bud like a pro, taking long deep hits and holding it within until he had inhaled as much of the weed smoke as he could.

See also

• chef

Anagrams

• cheif, fiche, fiché

Middle English

Noun

chief

1. Alternative form of chef

Adjective

chief

1. Alternative form of chef

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French chief.

Noun

chief m (plural chiefs)

1. head

Descendants

• French: chef (see there for further descendants)

Old French

Alternative forms

• cap (La Vie de Saint Léger, circa 980)
• chef, cief

Etymology

First known attestation 881 in The Sequence of Saint Eulalia. From Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?je?f/

Noun

chief m (oblique plural chiés, nominative singular chiés, nominative plural chief)

1. (anatomy) head
   • circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:

     Le chief li desarme et la face.

     He exposed his head and his face.

2. leader, chief
3. front (foremost side of something)

Descendants

• Middle French: chief
  • French: chef (see there for further descendants)
• Norman: chef
• ? Middle English: chef
  • English: chief
  • Scots: chief
• ? Old Spanish: xefe
  • Spanish: jefe, gefe
    • ? English: jefe
    • ? Cebuano: hepe
  • ? Asturian: xefe
  • ? Galician: xefe
  • ? Portuguese: chefe