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Taipan definition

tīpăn
The head of a British trading company in colonial Hong Kong.
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Any of several large brown venomous elapid snakes of the genus Oxyuranus of Australia and New Guinea, especially O. scutellatus.
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Any of several large brown venomous elapid snakes of the genus Oxyuranus of Australia and New Guinea, especially O. scutellatus.
noun
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A powerful businessman in China or Southeast Asia.
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A deadly venomous snake (Oxyuranus scutellatus) of the cobra family, found mainly in Australia.
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A foreign businessman in China; a tycoon. [from 19th c.]
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Any venomous elapid snake of the genus Oxyuranus, found in Australia and New Guinea. [from 20th c.]
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
taipan
Plural:
taipans

Origin of taipan

  • Cantonese daai6 baan1 eminent businessman, head of a firm Cantonese, daai6 big, great (from Middle Chinese tfiaj`) (also the source of Mandarin dà) Cantonese baan1 class (from Middle Chinese paːn division, class honcho)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Wik-Mungkan (Pama-Nyungan language of northeast Australia) dhay-ban

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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

    From Wiktionary

  • From Mandarin 大班 (dàbān, “big shot, rich businessman").

    From Wiktionary