A variant spelling of 'khan,' a ruler or leader in Central Asian, Ottoman, or Islamic cultures; sometimes used colloquially to mean a friend or buddy.
From Turkic and Mongolic languages where 'khan' (also spelled 'cham') means ruler. It entered English through contact with Central Asian and Ottoman empires starting in the 13th century.
The word 'cham' shows up in different spellings around the world—Khan, Cham, Khaan—because it traveled through many languages (Turkish, Mongol, Persian) before reaching English, each culture pronouncing and spelling it slightly differently!
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