honcho

noun

hon·​cho ˈhän-(ˌ)chō 

plural honchos

: boss, big shot

also : hotshot sense 1

Did you know?

A relic of the large U.S. presence in Japan in the years following World War II, the word honcho comes from the Japanese word hanchō meaning “leader of the squad, section, group.” We are uncertain of the exact route by which honcho found its way into American military argot in the mid-1950s, though it is known that the Japanese applied hanchō to British or Australian officers in charge of work parties in prisoner-of-war camps. By the 1960s, the word had become part of colloquial American jargon.

Synonyms

• big
• big boy
• big cheese
• big gun
• big leaguer
• big shot
• big wheel
• big-timer
• bigfoot
• biggie
• bigwig
• fat cat
• heavy
• heavy hitter
• heavyweight
• high-muck-a-muck
• high-muckety-muck
• kahuna
• kingfish
• kingpin
• major leaguer
• muckety-muck
• muck-a-muck
• mucky-muck
• nabob
• nawab
• nibs
• nob [chiefly British]
• pooh-bah
• poo-bah
• wheel

Examples of honcho in a Sentence

the office was all abuzz because some honchos from corporate headquarters were coming for a visit

he's definitely the head honcho in that company

Recent Examples on the Web

Additionally, if all that wasn’t enough, Dior has partnered with PR honcho Albane Cleret’s Terrasse by Albane lounge and set up shop on the JW Marriott hotel rooftop where celebrities also can go for personalized treatments. —Allyson Portee, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 May 2024

Relative restraint might be a pretty good look on these Mets, who essentially bought prospects in trading Scherzer and Verlander and launching, at long last, an organizational reboot under, finally, a permanent baseball ops honcho in David Stearns. —Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 4 Jan. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Japanese hanchō squad leader, from han squad + chō head, chief

First Known Use

1945, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing honcho

• head honcho