A very wealthy and powerful person in business or industry, a magnate or rich businessman.
From Japanese 'taikun,' meaning 'great lord,' composed of 'tai' (great) and 'kun' (lord). Entered English in the 1860s when Western traders encountered Japanese merchants and rulers.
The word 'tycoon' came to English as Japan opened to Western trade, and American newspapers loved it for describing self-made industrialists. It had an exotic appeal—suggesting someone powerful in a way that seemed both foreign and fascinating, which probably helped make it stick around!
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