War, law & ruleMyths & disputes

honcho

American soldiers in occupied Japan and Korea picked up hanchō, 'squad leader', and brought it home as slang for the boss — it is not Spanish. Korean kept the same word as banjang, the class monitor of every school class.

Weakest linkProbable

The story you may have heard

That honcho is Spanish (from hongo or ancho). It is Japanese hanchō.

The road to American English

From Japanese to Korean

From American English to English

1880Mandarin Chinese

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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