khagan

plural khagans · alternative kagan · alternative kaghan · alternative khaqan · alternative qagan · alternative qaghan · alternative qaqan

1. historicalA khan of khans, a ruler of a khaganate; (the holder of) an imperial rank used among certain Turkic and Mongolian peoples, equal in status to an emperor.

   "A kagan is the father, the mother and the lover of all his people. Nobody would lift a hand against him," said Hanukkah.

   2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 52

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   As early as the year 740 A.D., one of the Khazar kaghans had turned to Constantinople for a missionary versed in Christian law.

   1988, Milorad Pavić, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage, published 1989, page 69