Honcho
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A honcho is a boss or a leader, usually high up in the hierarchy.
"Honcho" is an English word of Japanese origin. The Japanese original is 班長 (or はんちょう), with the pronunciation hanchō. The kanji 班 (han) means "squadron," while 長 (chō) means chief or head.
This word entered English (first recorded in 1947, in the US) as American picked it up from Japanese troops they interacted with during World War II and in the Allied occupation of Japan, as well as during the Korean War (Korean is closely related to Japanese and had itself been under Japanse imperial protectorate and occupation).
- Head honcho (etymologically doubling the 'head' component) means someone even higher than a honcho, so a 'big boss'.
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