khan / kän/ • n. a title given to rulers and officials in central Asia, Afghanistan, and certain other Muslim countries. ∎  any of the successors of Genghis Khan, supreme rulers of the Turkish, Tartar, and Mongol peoples and emperors of China in the Middle Ages.DERIVATIVES: khan·ate / ˈkänāt/ n.khan² • n. (in the Middle East) an inn for travelers, built around a central courtyard.

KHAN

The meaning of the word khan is dependent upon the context in which it is used. It is often used as a title, but can also refer to an office, a form of address, an attribute of rulership (following Genghis Khan's thirteenth-century Mongol unification), or as part of a place name. Its etymology is obscure, though probably Turkic. It continues to be used commonly in Central Asia, North India, Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey. It is seldom used in Arabic, except as a place name.

G. R. Garthwaite

khan. Unfurnished building for the accommodation of travellers in the Middle East, etc. A caravanserai.

khan title of rulers (later of officials, etc.) in countries of the East. XIV. Early forms caan, c(h)an(e) — OF. chan or medL. ca(a)nus, canis — E. Turkish (hence Arab., Pers.) khān lord, prince, alt. of khāḳān.