honcho

English

Etymology

From Japanese 班長 (はんちょう, hanchō, “squad leader”), probably via American English. Apocryphal stories abound regarding American soldiers hearing Japanese POW's refer to their lieutenants by this phrase during World War II.

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: hŏnʹchō, IPA: /ˈhɑn.tʃo/, X-SAMPA: /"hAn.tSo/, Hyphenation: HAHN-choh
• (UK) enPR: hŏnʹchō, IPA: /ˈhɒn.tʃəʊ/, X-SAMPA: /"hQn.tSo/, Hyphenation: HON-choh
• Rhymes: -ɒntʃəʊ

Noun

honcho (plural honchos)

1. boss, leader
   • 1983: Max Von Sidewinder (aka Sydow) is back to play Spectre's head honcho, only now we see his face! — net.movies, 7 Nov 1983
   • 2001: Gulfstream makes jets for both Hollywood honchos and foreign governments like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. — Michael Moore, Stupid White Men, 2001, p.22

Derived terms

• head honcho

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Japanese

Romanization

honcho

1. See ほんちょ