honcho
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of honcho
First recorded in 1945–50; from Japanese hanchō “squad or group leader,” equivalent to han “squad” (from Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese bān “group”) + -chō “eldest, chief”
Explanation
A honcho is the person who's in charge. The "head honcho" in your office probably bosses everyone else around. Honcho is an informal word that was coined in the United States in the 1940s to mean "officer in charge," becoming especially popular with U.S. soldiers during the Korean War. Honcho comes from a Japanese word for "group leader," hancho, from han, "corps or squad," and cho, "head or chief." These days, the CEO of a company is as likely to be called a honcho as an Army general.
Vocabulary lists containing honcho
Like A Boss: Words for the Person in Charge
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Healer of the Water Monster
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City of the Plague God
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Or elevate a single man as head honcho?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
Sargeant held meetings with General Manuel Quevedo, a military honcho who Maduro had put in charge of his fledgling oil industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
Shortly after Martha Stewart's release from prison in 2005, she received a call from "Saturday Night Live's" head honcho, Lorne Michaels, inviting her to host the sketch comedy show.
From Salon ● Jan. 28, 2025
The band jumped over to the Sony Music label B1, whose head honcho is Wolfgang Boss - one of the first people to champion Clean Bandit back in the 2010s.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2024
“I’m the head honcho, mister. I don’t have to tell you what I’m gonna do.”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
The actually existing Mets were also midwifed by Gotham honchos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Friction ensued between Rees and private-credit honchos Ostrover and Lipschultz.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2025
A culture gap and the disproportionate influence that India’s founding generation of company honchos still wield over their companies continue to stymie those wanting access to a $25 billion market.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024
The fanbase is hardly in need of more recruits, but the Swift economy is such an unstoppable machine that even the sport honchos cannot ignore it.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2023
Don’t worry, one of Reverie’s honchos tells Seymour, “you’re an editor, you’ll make it work.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
