Resembling, characteristic of, or befitting a chief; having the quality or bearing of a leader.
From 'chief' (from Old French 'chief' meaning head, from Latin 'caput') plus the diminutive or qualitative suffix '-ty'. The suffix creates an adjective meaning 'having the nature of' or 'somewhat like.'
This rare adjective appears mainly in Scottish and regional English, where '-ty' suffixes were used more liberally to turn nouns into descriptive words—it's like how we might say 'kingly' or 'queenly' but for chiefs! The word shows how English speakers in different regions developed their own creative ways to make adjectives.
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