shogun

or shō·gun

[ shoh-guhn, -guhn ]
See synonyms for shogun on Thesaurus.com
nounJapanese History.
  1. the title applied to the chief military commanders from about the 8th century a.d. to the end of the 12th century, then applied to the hereditary officials who governed Japan, with the emperor as nominal ruler, until 1868, when the shogunate was terminated and the ruling power was returned to the emperor.

Origin of shogun

1
1605–15; <Japanese shōgun, earlier shaũgun<Middle Chinese, equivalent, to Chinese jiāngjūn literally, lead the army

Other words from shogun

  • sho·gun·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for shogun

shogun

/ (ˈʃəʊˌɡuːn) /


nounJapanese history
  1. (from 794 ad) a chief military commander

  2. (from about 1192 to 1867) any of a line of hereditary military dictators who relegated the emperors to a position of purely theoretical supremacy

Origin of shogun

1
C17: from Japanese, from Chinese chiang chün general, from chiang to lead + chün army

Derived forms of shogun

  • shogunal, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012