chieftess

English

Etymology

An irregular form from chief or chieftain +‎ -ess.

Noun

chieftess (plural chieftesses)

Synonym of chieftainess: a female chieftain or the wife of a chief.
- "This heroine was ever after treated by her nation as their deliverer, and made a chieftess in her own right, with the liberty to entail the same honour on her descendants ..." New travels among the Indians of North America, William Fisher, ed., p. 294; attributed to Rev. J. Hubbard.
- Loved by a Maori Chieftess (title of a 1913 film from New Zealand)

References

"chieftess, n." in Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

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