(in the Altaic group of languages) a title held by hereditary rulers or tribal chiefs.
the supreme ruler of the Tatar tribes, as well as emperor of China, during the Middle Ages: a descendant of Genghis Khan.
a title of respect used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and other countries of Asia.
(formerly) a title borne by medieval Chinese emperors and Mongol and Turkic rulers: usually added to a name
Kublai Khan
such a ruler
a title of respect borne by important personages in Afghanistan and central Asia
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English Ca(a)n, Chan, ultimately from Turkic Khān, apparently contraction of Khāgān, equivalent to Turkish kağan “ruler”
1350–1400; < Arabic < Persian; replacing Middle English alchan < Arabic ( al the + khān )
Historically, khans were Central Asian emperors, nobles, and military leaders. One of the most famous was Genghis Khan, ruler of the 13th-century Mongol empire. The power held by someone with the title of khan depended on the country or region. In some places a khan was the most powerful ruler, and in others the khan merely controlled an army or small nomadic tribe. While the use of khan as a title faded after the Middle Ages, it became a common surname among South and Central Asian Muslims. Khan's Turkic root is khaqan, or "ruler."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Timur’s troops then turned north to the Russian territory controlled by a former follower named Tokhtamish, the khan of the Golden Horde, who sought the same lands in central Asia that Timur claimed.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
His cousin Ariq Boke, another of Chinggis Khan’s grandsons and the one who had been left to administer the Mongol homeland, declared himself the new khan of the Mongol Empire ahead of a kurultai.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
London Mayor Sadiq khan said he was “heartbroken” by the news.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 19, 2021
There is this story in our family: Near my grandfather’s shop, by the Great Mosque, there was a khan where a mufti named Haji İbrahim—who belonged to the prominent Pirinççizade clan—drank tea.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 29, 2014
Aziz’s dad was a khan for owning all the fields.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
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.
