shogun
or shō·gun
[ shoh-guh n, -guhn ]
/ ˈʃoʊ gən, -gʌn /
|
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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Nearby words
shoestring tackle, shoetree, shofar, shog, shogi, shogun, shogun bond, shogunate, shoguns, shohet, 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 shoguns
British Dictionary definitions for shoguns
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
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Word Origin and History for shoguns
shogun
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
Culture definitions for shoguns
shoguns
[ (shoh-guhnz) ]
Japanese military leaders who ruled the country from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries. There was still an emperor in Japan under the shoguns, but he was reduced to a mere figurehead.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.