"boss" Chinese-English Dictionary
| Chinese | Pinyin | Translation | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 老板 老闆 | boss / business proprietor / CL:個|个[ge4] | syn | |
| 头 頭 | head / hair style / the top / end / beginning or end / a stub / remnant / chief / boss / side / aspect / first / leading / classifier for pigs or livestock / CL:個|个[ge4] | syn | |
| 大拿 | (coll.) man in power / boss / authority / expert | ||
| 头家 頭家 | organizer of a gambling party who takes a cut of the winnings / banker (gambling) / preceding player (in a game) / (dialect) boss / proprietor | ||
| 大哥 | eldest brother / big brother (polite address for a man of about the same age as oneself) / gang leader / boss | syn | |
| 老大 | old age / very / eldest child in a family / leader of a group / boss / captain of a boat / leader of a criminal gang | syn | |
| 龙头 龍頭 | faucet / tap / bicycle handlebar / chief / boss (esp. of a gang) / (referring to a company) leader / front-runner / figurehead on the prow of a dragon boat 龍船|龙船[long2chuan2] | syn | |
| 头脑 頭腦 | brains / mind / skull / (fig.) gist (of a matter) / leader / boss | syn | |
| 老总 老總 | boss / sir (person with a leading role in an organization) / (after a surname) high ranking commander in the PLA / (Qing dynasty) high ranking government official / (old) courteous term used by the general populace in addressing a rank-and-file soldier or police officer | syn | |
| 上司 | boss / superior | syn | |
| 首领 首領 | head / boss / chief | syn | |
| 一把手 | working hand / member of a work team / participant / the boss (short form of 第一把手[di4 yi1 ba3 shou3]) | syn | |
| 东家 東家 | master (i.e. employer) / landlord / boss | syn | |
| 头子 頭子 | boss / gang leader | syn | |
| 大头目 大頭目 | the boss | ||
| 话事人 話事人 | (coll.) (from Cantonese) the boss / the big cheese / the top dog |
| Chinese | Pinyin | Translation | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 小开 小開 | (dialect) boss's son / rich man's son / young master | syn | |
| 少东 少東 | boss's son / young master / young boss | ||
| 少爷 少爺 | son of the boss / young master of the house / your son (honorific) | syn | |
| 老板娘 | female proprietor / lady boss / boss's wife | syn | |
| 大哥大 | cell phone (bulky, early-model one) / brick phone / mob boss | syn | |
| 大鳄 大鱷 | lit. big crocodile / fig. major figure / big shot / top boss (esp. criminal) | ||
| 越级 越級 | to skip a grade / to bypass ranks / to go over the head of one's boss | ||
| 发号施令 發號施令 | to boss people around (idiom) | syn | |
| 地头蛇 地頭蛇 | local bully / tyrant / regional mafia boss | syn | |
| 党魁 黨魁 | party boss | ||
| 板 闆 | see 老闆|老板, boss | syn | |
| 龙头老大 龍頭老大 | big boss / leader of a group / dominant (position) | ||
| 角头 角頭 | gang leader / mafia boss | ||
| 赖昌星 賴昌星 | Lai Changxing (1958-), notorious Xiamen mafia boss involved in large scale corruption and smuggling, extradited from Canada back to China in 2008 | ||
| 大姐头 大姐頭 | (Tw) female gang leader / female boss / big sister | ||
| 小秘 | (ironically) "secretary" (i.e. boss's mistress) | ||
| 一个将军一个令 一個將軍一個令 | lit. one general, one order (idiom) / fig. every boss has their own rules / everyone has their own way of doing things | ||
| 少东家 少東家 | boss's son | syn |