zaibatsu

Definition

A large business conglomerate founded under the Empire of Japan, generally controlled by a single family or individual.

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 財閥(ざいばつ) (zaibatsu), coined from Middle Chinese 財 (d͡zoj, “wealth”) + 閥 (bjot, “powerful family”). Doublet of chaebol.

Example Sentences

• "He wondered briefly what it would be like, working all your life for one zaibatsu. Company housing, company hymn, company funeral."
• "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)."
• "Near-synonyms: megacorporation, supercorporation"