taipanとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

From Cantonese 大班 (daai baan, “big shot, rich businessman”), originally as taepan. Related to tycoon, from Japanese 大君(たいくん) (taikun).

別の表記

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

名詞

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, published 2010, page 438:

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

2. (Philippines) A tycoon (usually of Chinese Filipino background)

使用する際の注意点

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.

関連する語

• tycoon

語源 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).

名詞

taipan (plural taipans)

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

派生語

参照

アナグラム

• Aptian, patina, pinata, piñata