What does the term Honcho mean?


I have seen the term used when calling out for a taxi, but I thought it was a
term meaning boss.




Honcho in English is an
["英製和語"](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/18544/5010) term derived from
班長【はんちょう】. In Japanese 班長【はんちょう】 refers to the head of a **small** group/team,
and it's not really a big word. 班【はん】 means a team/group/squad of typically
3-10 people. Practically, you will never see romanized 班長 in Japan, and the
normal romanized spelling of 班長 is hancho, not honcho.

If you saw Honcho on a signboard in Japan, it's probably 本町【ほんちょう】. It's just
another place name which literally means "main town". There are hundreds of
[districts called 本町](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%AC%E7%94%BA-1044222) all
over Japan.




Honcho in English is an
["英製和語"](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/18544/5010) term derived from
班長【はんちょう】. In Japanese 班長【はんちょう】 refers to the head of a **small** group/team,
and it's not really a big word. 班【はん】 means a team/group/squad of typically
3-10 people. Practically, you will never see romanized 班長 in Japan, and the
normal romanized spelling of 班長 is hancho, not honcho.

If you saw Honcho on a signboard in Japan, it's probably 本町【ほんちょう】. It's just
another place name which literally means "main town". There are hundreds of
[districts called 本町](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%AC%E7%94%BA-1044222) all
over Japan.

