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shogun

or shō·gun

[ shoh-guh n, -guhn ]
/ ˈʃoʊ gən, -gʌn /
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noun Japanese History.

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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RELATED WORDS

president, generalissimo

Nearby words

  1. shoestring tackle,
  2. shoetree,
  3. shofar,
  4. shog,
  5. shogi,
  6. shogun bond,
  7. shogunate,
  8. shoguns,
  9. shohet,
  10. shoji

Origin of shogun

1605–15; < Japanese shōgun, earlier shaũgun < Middle Chinese, equivalent, to Chinese jiāngjūn literally, lead the army
Related formssho·gun·al, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for shogun

British Dictionary definitions for shogun

shogun

/ (ˈʃəʊˌɡuːn) /

noun Japanese history

(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
Derived Formsshogunal, adjective

Word Origin for shogun

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for shogun

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."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper