Honcho

Boss. Bigwig. Leader. Person in charge. Chief executive. Kingpin. The big cheese. The top dog.

What do all of these terms have in common? They’re all synonyms for “honcho,” which is a slang term for…well…the words we just listed.

A “honcho” is a person in a position of power. The CEO of an organization might be the “head honcho,” while her management team might just be “the honchos.” The word became popular in the U.S. after WWII, and comes from the Japanese word “hancho,” which means “group leader.” We originally used it to refer to military officers-in-charge, but it spread like wildfire after everyone figured out how fun it is to say.

Honcho. See? Fun.