Etymology

tycoon

T1Y4C3O1O1N1

Today it means: A wealthy and powerful business person. Full definition →

Japanese 大君
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The story

  1. Japanese · borrowed from大君“great lord, prince”
  2. English todaytycoon

Borrowed from Japanese 大君 (“great lord, prince”), a title for the shōgun. Related to taipan, from Cantonese 大班 (daai⁶ baan¹). The game sense was derived from the use of tycoon in titles of games in which one plays a tycoon (e.g., RollerCoaster Tycoon).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.