TAIPAN


Meaning of TAIPAN in English

/ ˈtaɪpæn; NAmE / noun (from Chinese )

1.

a foreign person who is in charge of a business in China

2.

an extremely poisonous Australian snake

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WORD ORIGIN

sense 1 mid 19th cent.: from Chinese ( Cantonese dialect) daaihbāan .

sense 2 1930s: from Wik Munkan (an extinct Aboriginal language of North Queensland) dhayban .

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.