tai·pan 1 (t??p?n?)n.1. A powerful businessman in China or Southeast Asia.2. The head of a British trading company in colonial Hong Kong.[Cantonese daai6 baan1, eminent businessman, head of a firm, Cantonese, daai6, big, great (from Middle Chinese t?aj`; also the source of Mandarin dà), Cantonese baan1, class (from Middle Chinese pa?n, division, class; see honcho).]tai·pan 2 (t??p?n)n. Any of several large brown venomous elapid snakes of the genus Oxyuranus of Australia and New Guinea, especially O. scutellatus.[Wik-Mungkan (Pama-Nyungan language of northeast Australia) dhay-ban.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.taipan (?ta??pæn) n (Animals) a large highly venomous elapid snake, Oxyuranus scutellatus, of NE Australia[C20: from a native Australian language]taipan (?ta??pæn) n (Commerce) the foreign head of a business in China[C19: from dialectal form of Chinese tai great + ban company, class]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014tai?pan1 (?ta? pæn) n. (in China) the head of a foreign business. [1825?35;