honcho

the word 'honcho' entered american english in the mid-20th century, borrowed directly from japanese 班長 (hanchō), meaning 'squad leader'. it was initially used by american military personnel stationed in japan after world war ii. the japanese term itself is a compound of 班 (han, 'group, squad') and 長 (chō, 'chief, head'). the word was adopted into general american slang, shedding its specific military context to refer broadly to any person in charge, and retains a slightly informal tone.

this word is a direct loanword from japanese and is not productively segmented using english morphemes.