Honcho was first used in English by US servicemen in 1947 to designate the head of a small group of Japanese soldiers. Honcho comes from the Japanese ‘han’ meaning squad and ‘cho’ meaning head. The original meaning of ‘small boss’ has evolved slightly to mean ‘boss’ in general. In modern English it is often used as ´head honcho`, referring to a CEO. It is often used slightly disparagingly.
Products that carried the name honcho included an American gay magazine, which was published for around 20 years before being discontinued in 2009 or a currently very popular radio-controlled truck.
