honcho
/ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/
"honcho" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“honcho” is uncommon English (frequency #58,748 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #58,748
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Boss, leader.
Corpus desk
Index EN-honcho · honcho · English
honcho · rank #58,748 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #58,748
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH hobble
Nearest frequency peer: hobble (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “honcho”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- herniated
herniated
41,258 corpus weight
- Hershel
Hershel
41,257 corpus weight
- hissy
hissy
41,256 corpus weight
- hobble
hobble
41,255 corpus weight
- honcho
honcho
41,253 corpus weight
- Hopkinson
Hopkinson
41,251 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “honcho” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | honcho |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #58,748 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “honcho” in English
Rare enough to double-check
honcho is uncommon English at frequency #58,748 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Boss, leader.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for honcho, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 班(はん)長(ちょう) (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 /班长 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lie… The correct English form is honcho, spelled H-O-N-C-H-O.
Definition
- 1Boss, leader.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how honcho appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Says they had no choice. Says the NVA killed the old honcho when he said no. Now he says all the rice is theirs.
For years, snobbery has been a hallmark of this city of wealth and glamour, movie stars and entertainment honchos, where it is possible to spend $20,000 for a watch, $6,000 for a suit with 14-karat gold pinstriping or $15,000 for a handbag of rare leather.
Etymology
From Japanese 班(はん)長(ちょう) (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 /班长 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as hanchō.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "honcho", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).