English

Alternative forms

• taepan (historical)
• tai-pan(historical)This term "大班 daai6 baan1" first used in early Qing dynasty in China. Foreign company can only trade through a reputable Chinese firm. Hence merchant firm is the "代办 dài bàn (representative)" of the foreign company. "大班 daai6 baan1" is a "Englishman-Cantonese" version of Mandarin.
• typan (historical)

Noun

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 2010, p. 438:

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

Usage notes

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.

Related terms

• tycoon

Etymology 2

An inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus)

From the name of the Thaypan tribe of Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.

Noun

taipan ‎(plural taipans)

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

Translations

Derived terms

References

1. ↑ J[ohn] A. Simpson and E[dward] S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861186-8.

Anagrams

• patina, pinata, piñata

Portuguese

Noun

taipan f (plural taipans)

1. taipan (venomous snake of the genus Oxyuranus)