"big kahuna" meaning in All languages combined

See big kahuna on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: en-au-big kahuna.ogg Forms: big kahunas [plural]
Etymology: Borrowed from Hawaiian word kahuna (“a shaman or wizard”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|haw|-}} Hawaiian Head templates: {{en-noun}} big kahuna (plural big kahunas)
  1. (idiomatic, informal) A boss, leader, chieftain, or top-ranking person in an organization. Wikipedia link: kahuna Tags: idiomatic, informal Categories (topical): People Translations (boss): pääjehu (Finnish), pezzo da novanta [masculine] (Italian), mandachuva [feminine, masculine] (Portuguese)

Inflected forms

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "haw",
        "3": "-"
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      "expansion": "Hawaiian",
      "name": "bor"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Hawaiian word kahuna (“a shaman or wizard”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "big kahunas",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "big kahuna (plural big kahunas)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "You'll have to talk with the big kahuna to get a decision on that.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A boss, leader, chieftain, or top-ranking person in an organization."
      ],
      "id": "en-big_kahuna-en-noun-xLS6Inz~",
      "links": [
        [
          "boss",
          "boss"
        ],
        [
          "leader",
          "leader"
        ],
        [
          "chieftain",
          "chieftain"
        ],
        [
          "organization",
          "organization"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) A boss, leader, chieftain, or top-ranking person in an organization."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "important person"
        },
        {
          "word": "big cheese"
        },
        {
          "word": "big enchilada"
        },
        {
          "word": "bigwig"
        },
        {
          "word": "big wheel"
        },
        {
          "word": "grand poobah"
        },
        {
          "word": "head honcho"
        },
        {
          "word": "kingpin"
        },
        {
          "word": "muckety muck"
        },
        {
          "word": "top banana"
        },
        {
          "word": "top dog"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "boss",
          "word": "pääjehu"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "boss",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "pezzo da novanta"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "boss",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "mandachuva"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "kahuna"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/En-au-big_kahuna.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "big kahuna"
}
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  "etymology_templates": [
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      },
      "expansion": "Hawaiian",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Hawaiian word kahuna (“a shaman or wizard”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "big kahunas",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "big kahuna (plural big kahunas)",
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  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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        "English terms derived from Hawaiian",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
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        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
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          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
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        "A boss, leader, chieftain, or top-ranking person in an organization."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "boss",
          "boss"
        ],
        [
          "leader",
          "leader"
        ],
        [
          "chieftain",
          "chieftain"
        ],
        [
          "organization",
          "organization"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) A boss, leader, chieftain, or top-ranking person in an organization."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "kahuna"
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    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/54/En-au-big_kahuna.ogg/En-au-big_kahuna.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/En-au-big_kahuna.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "important person"
    },
    {
      "word": "big cheese"
    },
    {
      "word": "big enchilada"
    },
    {
      "word": "bigwig"
    },
    {
      "word": "big wheel"
    },
    {
      "word": "grand poobah"
    },
    {
      "word": "head honcho"
    },
    {
      "word": "kingpin"
    },
    {
      "word": "muckety muck"
    },
    {
      "word": "top banana"
    },
    {
      "word": "top dog"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "boss",
      "word": "pääjehu"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "boss",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pezzo da novanta"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "boss",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "mandachuva"
    }
  ],
  "word": "big kahuna"
}

Download raw JSONL data for big kahuna meaning in All languages combined (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (df33d17 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.