Cheez

“So, who is the Big Cheese around here?” Where did we get the idea of calling someone a ‘big cheese’?
 
Cheez or chiz is an Urdu word meaning ‘thing’. In early 19th century India, cheez was used by English colonial officials to mean a big thing or big event. Later, cheez came to mean an important person who holds the most power or influence in any situation. At that time, there was no need to say ‘big cheez’—a cheez was a cheez.
 
Over time, cheez, similar in meaning to terms like ‘top dog’ or ‘big shot’ or ‘head honcho’, came to be spelled in English as cheese. By the 1920s, the term ‘big cheese’ appeared meaning the same as cheez.
 
By the way, honcho is a Korean word meaning someone in charge or the head of a team or organization—to call someone the head honcho is like calling them the head head. But that’s another story.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
https://www.urdupoint.com/dictionary/urdu-to-english/cheez-meaning-in-english/88981.html
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/big+cheese
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/big-cheese
Khan, Vaseem. (2019). Bad day in the vulture club.
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