Added 9 October 2026
honcho
/ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/ noun
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about honcho at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
verb
Origin
From Japanese 班(はん)長(ちょう) (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 /班长 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as hanchō.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)