tycoon

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No radioactive trace in Georgian tycoon death: police

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A wealthy and powerful businessperson or industrialist; a magnate.
  2. noun Used formerly as a title for a Japanese shogun.
  3. Word History
    It has been claimed that in today's global economy some business leaders have more power than heads of states. It is etymologically fitting that such leaders are sometimes called tycoons. Tycoon came into English from Japanese, which had borrowed the title, meaning "great prince,” from Chinese. Use of the word was intended to make the shogun, the commander in chief of the Japanese army, more impressive to foreigners (his official title shōgun merely meant "general”). It worked with Matthew C. Perry, who opened Japan to the West in 1854; Perry carried out his negotiations with the shogun, thinking him to be the emperor. In fact, the shogun did rule Japan, although he was supposedly acting for the emperor. The shogun's title, taikun, was brought back to the United States after Perry's visit. Abraham Lincoln's cabinet members used tycoon as an affectionate nickname for the President. The word soon came to be used for business and industry leaders—at times being applied to figures like J. P. Morgan, who may indeed have wielded more power than many princes and presidents.

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Examples (50)

  • You'll be known as a tycoon in no time Macbeth said uncomfortably, "I'm not as hot about taking over as I was The hell you aren't!" —  180 - Return From Cormoral
  • “Is Brown with us?” The real estate tycoon was a big man, in his fifties, who looked to be in pretty good shape. —  Step on a Crack by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
  • The big tycoon, the president of companies, the hero-soldier, the sportsman, the intellectual, the leader. —  Tumbleweed - Grijpstra ; de Gier 02 - Janwillem van de Wetering
  • The Express & Star reported in February that a tycoon was poised to sign the contracts on the clubs in Wrottesley Park Road, Perton, and Bridgnorth Road, Swindon. —  Express & Star
  • But while Azadeh Moaveni does indeed deliver details of her romance with the son of an Iranian textile tycoon, there's another, more intriguing relationship at the core of this memoir. —  Bloggers.Pakistan
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Japanese taikun, title of a shogun, of Chinese origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also taikun, taicoon; from Japanese taikun, ‘great prince,’ from Chinese ta, great, + kiun, prince: said to have been coined in 1854 by a preceptor of Iyesada, the shogun, as a fitting title for his master in the treaty which he was then concluding with Commodore Perry. The phrase, however, seems to have been used much earlier, having been applied to Iyemitsŭ (1623–49), the third of the Tokugawa shoguns, in a letter sent by his government to Corea, in order to impress the “barbarian” Coreans with his greatness.
 

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/taɪˈkun/
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