Daimios

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical term referring to powerful feudal lords in Japan who held significant land and influence during the era of samurai rule
2. Designating influential regional leaders in Japan, especially during the Shogunate, governing territories and commanding armies
3. Describing the autonomous chieftains in Japan's history, each controlling their own estates and adhering to the shogun's authority

Etymology: "Daimios" is the plural form of "daimio," the English word for a powerful feudal lord in Japan. Its origins lie in the Japanese "daimyō," a compound of "dai," meaning "great" or "large," and "myō," short for "myōden," a term for a private landholding, or estate, which had its roots in the Chinese characters for "name" and "field." Together the parts describe a great estate-holder, a lord whose land and retainers gave him standing in the feudal system. The plural "daimios" is a regular English formation, adding "-s" to the singular. In practice, English writers have often used the singular "daimio" for the lords themselves and the plural for groups of them, so the form appears most often in histories of the Edo period and earlier medieval Japan, where many such lords governed their own domains under the shogunate.