taipan
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Mandarin 大班 (dàbān, “big shot, rich businessman”).
Noun
taipan (plural taipans)
- 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 2010, p. 438:
- The British taipans stood in one sodden circle with their womenfolk, like bored officers at a garrison get-together.
- 1922, W. Somerset Maugham, "The Taipan":
Etymology 2
From the name of the Thaypan tribe of Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.
Noun
taipan (plural taipans)
- Any of a venomous species of snake, of the family Elapidae, found in Australia and New Guinea. [from 20th c.]
Translations
venomous snake of the Elapidae family
Derived terms
- coastal taipan
- inland taipan
- Papuan taipan