A female chief; a woman who holds the position of chief or leads a group or territory.
Formed from 'chief' plus the suffix '-ess,' which creates feminine forms of masculine nouns (like 'duchess,' 'actress,' 'waitress'). This pattern was common historically for gendering leadership titles.
The '-ess' suffix for feminizing words is becoming less common as English moves toward gender-neutral terms—'chiefess' sounds old-fashioned today, and modern speakers often just use 'chief' for any gender, showing how language evolves to reflect changing attitudes.
Chiefess marks the feminine form of chief, reflecting historical linguistic practice of gendering leadership roles. Female leaders were often marked with -ess, implicitly treating male as the default leadership position.
Use 'chief' for all genders, or 'female chief' only when gender context is explicitly relevant. Avoid -ess suffixing unless the source text mandates historical accuracy.
["chief","female chief","woman chief"]
Many chiefesses—from Nanny of the Maroons to historical Mapuche and Polynesian female leaders—wielded equal authority to male counterparts but were linguistically diminished by gendered suffixes.
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