Standard Lemma guide

shogun

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • shō'gŭn
  • /ˈʃəʊɡʌn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊɡən
  • CMU ARPABET: SH OW1 G AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a hereditary military dictator of Japan; the shoguns ruled Japan until the revolution of 1867-68

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: Japanese, Nipponese, dictator, potentate

History

Etymology

From Japanese 将軍 (shōgun), itself the short form of 征夷大将軍 (seii taishōgun, literally “general who overcomes the barbarians”), ultimately from Middle Chinese. Doublet of jiangjun.

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: شُوغُون (šogun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Arabic: شُوغُون (šūḡūn) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Azerbaijani: syoqun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Belarusian: сёгун (sjóhun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Bulgarian: шо́гун (šógun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Chinese Mandarin: 將軍 /将军 (jiāngjūn) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Czech: šógun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Danish: shogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Esperanto: ŝoguno — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Finnish: shōgun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • French: shogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Georgian: სიოგუნი (sioguni) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • German: Feldherr — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • German: Schogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • German: Shogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • German: Shōgun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Hebrew: שוגון (shogun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Hindi: शोगुन (śogun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Hungarian: sógun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Icelandic: sjógun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Indonesian: syogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Italian: shōgun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Italian: siogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Japanese: 将軍 (shōgun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Korean: 장군 (janggun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Korean: 쇼군 (syogun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Malay: syogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Marathi: शोगुन (śogun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Marathi: शोउगुन (śougun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Old Turkic: 𐰽𐰭𐰆𐰣 (s1ŋun1) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Old Turkic: 𐱁𐰭𐰆𐰣 (šŋun1) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Polish: siogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Polish: szogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Polish: shogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Portuguese: xogum — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Russian: сёгу́н (sjogún) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Russian: сёгун (sjógun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Serbo-Croatian: шогун — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Serbo-Croatian: šogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Slovak: šógun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Spanish: shōgun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Spanish: sogún — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Swedish: shogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Thai: โชกุน — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Turkish: şogun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Ukrainian: сьо́ґун (sʹógun) — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan
  • Vietnamese: shōgun — supreme generalissimo of feudal Japan