taipan

Meaning

Noun

• A foreign businessman in China; a tycoon.
• Any venomous elapid snake of the genus Oxyuranus, found in Australia and New Guinea.

Origin

• From Cantonese 大班, originally as taepan. Related to tycoon, from Japanese 大君 – the first half of both comes from the Chinese root 大.
• From the name of the Thaypan tribe of Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, or from Wik-Mungkan thaypan (or dhayban).