tycoon
[tahy-koon]
- a person of great wealth, influence, or power; magnate: a business tycoon; a political tycoon.
- (often initial capital letter) a title used with reference to the shogun of Japan.
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Origin of tycoon
1855–60; < Japanese taikun < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese dà great + jūn prince
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
tycoon
- a business man of great wealth and power
- an archaic name for a shogun
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Word Origin
C19: from Japanese taikun, from Chinese ta great + chün ruler
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 tycoon
n.
1857, title given by foreigners to the shogun of Japan (said to have been used by his supporters when addressing foreigners, as an attempt to convey that the shogun was more important than the emperor), from Japanese taikun "great lord or prince," from Chinese tai "great" + kiun "lord." Transferred meaning "important person" is attested from 1861, in reference to U.S. president Abraham Lincoln (in Hay's diary); specific application to "businessman" is post-World War I.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
tycoon
Someone who has made a fortune in business, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt.
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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.