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

Setting the tone for this banner year is the conversation between two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund and Cannes Film Festival honcho Thierry Frémaux, due to kick-off the Nordic confab on Wednesday Jan. 31. —Annika Pham, Variety, 16 Jan. 2024

The slightest hint of congressional courage on gun control means more expensive vacations for NRA honcho Wayne LaPierre. —Eric Alterman, The New Republic, 21 Aug. 2023

Mark Zuckerberg called out Elon Musk for continually avoiding their cage match in a post Sunday on the Meta honcho’s Threads. —Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2023

Coming on the heels of its eye-opening Secrets of Playboy, which accused the late Playboy honcho Hugh Hefner of being a rapist who was into snuff films and bestiality, A&E is now dropping Secrets of Miss America, a four-part docuseries airing weekly starting July 10. —Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 10 July 2023

It’s earned him the faith and support of everyone from Playwrights Horizons honcho Ira Weitzman (Jonathan Marc Sherman) to no less a grizzled eminence than Stephen Sondheim (a pitch-perfect Bradley Whitford), whose influence can already be heard in some of the lyrics. —Los Angeles Times, 12 Nov. 2021

Billboard honcho Paul Ackerman was so impressed that Stein was soon hired to write concert reviews for Billboard. —George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Apr. 2023

In a groundbreaking move for the film-TV scene in the U.S. Hispanic, Latin America and Spain, ex-NBC Universal Telemundo honcho Marcos Santana is launching Mas Ros Media, a new venture with offices in Barcelona and Miami whose productions target gaming and esports communities and their families. —John Hopewell, Variety, 17 Jan. 2023

Staying in touch with this new customer is a savvy move for an Italian honcho who has two children in their 30s, Pietro and Romeo, no grandchildren yet and an increasingly unrelatable lifestyle. —Rory Satran, WSJ, 3 Dec. 2022

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