What does "jefe" mean?

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.

What is a synonym for "jefe"?

Common synonyms include: boss, sachem.

Jefe

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
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. US, informal
"Antonio Rivera Cabezas was chosen vice-jefe in March 1830."
2
A boss in a business, company, or other organization. US
"“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.”"

Synonyms

All synonyms

boss sachem

Example

More examples

"Antonio Rivera Cabezas was chosen vice-jefe in March 1830."

Etymology

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

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.