Etymology

God Emperor

Today it means: A god-king; a sovereign worshiped as a god. Full definition →

Japanese 天皇
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The story

  1. Japanese · calque of天皇
  2. English todayGod Emperor

Its use in reference to the Emperor of Japan is a calque of Japanese 天皇 (tennō, literally “heavenly sovereign/emperor”), referring to the emperor's descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu. In reference to Donald Trump, from Trump-supporting Internet users humorously depicting him as the God-Emperor of Mankind, a character from the British science fiction tabletop game Warhammer 40,000.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.