shogun
or shō·gun
[shoh-guh n, -guhn]
- the title applied to the chief military commanders from about the 8th century a.d. to the end of the 12th century, then applied to the hereditary officials who governed Japan, with the emperor as nominal ruler, until 1868, when the shogunate was terminated and the ruling power was returned to the emperor.
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Origin of shogun
1605–15; < Japanese shōgun, earlier shaũgun < Middle Chinese, equivalent, to Chinese jiāngjūn literally, lead the army
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for shogun
Historical Examples
The body of the shogun is buried twenty feet deep in a bed of charcoal.
The Critic in the OrientGeorge Hamlin Fitch
The Shogun, his courtiers and his warriors bestirred themselves at once.
Historic AdventuresRupert S. Holland
The actual ruler was the new Shogun Iysada, son of the former Shogun.
Historic AdventuresRupert S. Holland
This advance of the fleet convinced the Shogun that Perry meant to go to Yedo.
Historic AdventuresRupert S. Holland
While there the shogun appointed him to receive and entertain an envoy from the mikado.
The Gist of JapanR. B. Peery
shogun
- (from 794 ad) a chief military commander
- (from about 1192 to 1867) any of a line of hereditary military dictators who relegated the emperors to a position of purely theoretical supremacy
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Word Origin
C17: from Japanese, from Chinese chiang chün general, from chiang to lead + chün army
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for shogun
n.
1610s, "hereditary commander of a Japanese army," from Japanese (sei-i-tai) shogun "(barbarian-subduing) chief" (late 12c.), sound-substitution for Chinese chiang chiin, literally "lead army."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper