zaibatsu
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See also: Zaibatsu
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 財閥 (zaibatsu), coined from Middle Chinese 財 (d͡zoj, “wealth”) + 閥 (bjot, “powerful family”). Doublet of chaebol.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /zaɪˈbætsuː/
- (General American) IPA(key): /zaɪˈbɑtsu/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ætsuː
Noun
zaibatsu (plural zaibatsus or zaibatsu)
- (business, historical) A large business conglomerate founded under the Empire of Japan, generally controlled by a single family or individual.
- 1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 37:
- He wondered briefly what it would be like, working all your life for one zaibatsu. Company housing, company hymn, company funeral.
- 2018 March 31, Nina Li Coomes, “Unpacking the Fictional Japan of ‘Isle of Dogs’”, in The Atlantic:
- At other points, the film suggests the motive is financial, depicting the Kobayashi clan as staging an industrial coup of sorts, like a quirky Andersonian take on the zaibatsu (a term for the family-controlled business monopolies that dominated Japan until the end of World War II).
- (US, loosely) Any large corporation.
Translations
a Japanese conglomerate founded under the Empire of Japan
See also
Japanese
Romanization
zaibatsu