different between businessman vs taipan

English

Etymology

From business +? -man. Displaced earlier merchant, ultimately from Latin merc?ns (“merchant, buyer”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?zn?sm?n/, /?b?zn?sm?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?b?zn?smæn/, /?b?zn?sm?n/

Noun

businessman (plural businessmen)

1. A man in business, one who works at a commercial institution.

   Synonym: (gender-neutral) businessperson

Descendants

• ? French: businessman
• ? Polish: biznesmen
• ? Russian: ?????????? (biznesmén)
  • ? Armenian: ????????? (biznesmen)

Translations

See also

• entrepreneur

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English businessman.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biz.n?s.man/

Noun

businessman m (plural businessmen or businessmans, feminine businesswoman)

1. businessman

Further reading

• “businessman” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t??pan/

Etymology 1

From Cantonese ?? (daai6 baan1, “big shot, rich businessman”), originally as taepan. Related to tycoon, from Japanese ?? (taikun) – the first half of both comes from the Chinese root ? (“big, great”).

Alternative forms

• taepan (historical)
• tai-pan
• typan (historical)

Noun

taipan (plural taipans)

1. A foreign businessman in China; a tycoon. [from 19th c.]
   • 1922, W. Somerset Maugham, "The Taipan":

     Of course it was very sad, but the taipan could hardly help a smile when he thought how many of these young fellows he had drunk underground.

   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society 2010, p. 438:

     The British taipans stood in one sodden circle with their womenfolk, like bored officers at a garrison get-together.

Usage notes

Relatively narrow usage, and somewhat dated (early/mid 20th century); primarily known outside of China due to use in fiction set in Hong Kong, notably The Taipan (1922) by Somerset Maugham and Tai-Pan (1966) by James Clavell. Even in Hong Kong, the more globally widespread (and distantly related) tycoon is more common today.

Related terms

• tycoon

Etymology 2

From the name of the Thaypan tribe of Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, or from Wik-Mungkan tay-pan (or dhayban).

Noun

taipan (plural taipans)

1. Any venomous elapid snake of the genus Oxyuranus, found in Australia and New Guinea. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Aptian, patina, pinata, piñata

Indonesian

Etymology

From Cantonese ?? (daai6 baan1, “big shot, rich businessman”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?t?ai?pan]
• Hyphenation: tai?pan

Noun

taipan (plural taipan-taipan, first-person possessive taipanku, second-person possessive taipanmu, third-person possessive taipannya)

1. taipan, tycoon: A wealthy and powerful business person.

   Synonyms: konglomerat, taiko

Further reading

• “taipan” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Portuguese

Noun

taipan f (plural taipans)

1. taipan (venomous snake of the genus Oxyuranus)