How to say “chief” in 38 languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
It is commonest in Tamil, where தலைவர் is the 226th most used word.
- Afrikaans hoofman chief, chieftain, leader, ringleader #1,317
- Arabic رئيس boss, chief, leader #309
- Armenian առաջնորդ leader, chief #1,737
- Bengali প্রধান main, chief, head, principal #438
- Bosnian glavni main, chief, principal #730
- Bulgarian началник chief, commander, head man #1,384
- Croatian glavni main, chief, principal #743
- Czech šéfe boss, chief #784
- Dutch baas boss, chief, superior #495
- English captain A chief or leader #537
- Esperanto ĉefo #1,175
- Estonian pealik chief, leader #1,272
- Finnish johtaja leader, commander, chief #1,018
- Galician mor head; chief; main #2,393
- Georgian მთავარი main, chief, principal, head #1,349
- German chef boss, chief #1,006
- Greek διοικητής chief administrator, governor #2,317
- Hindi अध्यक्ष chairman, head, chief, president #881
- Hungarian főnök chief, boss #431
- Icelandic foringi chief, commander #1,061
- Indonesian ketua chief, leader, headman #975
- Italian capo boss, chief, leader #338
- Latvian galvenais main, chief, primary, key #664
- Lithuanian viršininkas head, chief, boss #1,170
- Macedonian главен main, chief, cardinal #830
- Malay ketua A chief, leader or head man #427
- Malayalam മുഖ്യ #1,572
- Norwegian sjefen chief, boss, head #744
- Portuguese chefe chief, head, head man, boss #396
- Romanian principal principal, primary, chief, foremost #1,596
- Russian шеф boss, chief #1,141
- Serbian glavni main, chief, principal #745
- Spanish jefe chief; president; head; leader of a business,… #356
- Tagalog pinuno chief; official; officer; leader #602
- Tamil தலைவர் leader, chief, lord #226
- Ukrainian шеф chief, head, boss #1,606
- Urdu مہر #1,318
- Vietnamese sếp chief; boss #501
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.