重鎮 (Jūchin) Meaning “Heavyweight/Leading Light” in Japanese

Pronunciation

Definition

重鎮 (じゅうちん, jūchin) is an advanced Japanese word that means “a person who is very important in a particular field”. This word is often used with “~界かいの”, meaning “in the world of ~”. For instance, “ファッション界かいの重鎮” means “an important person/a leading light in the world of fashion”. You can also use this word to describe an important person in a group or organisation, as in “自民党じみんとうの重鎮” meaning “a very important member of the Liberal Democratic Party”.

Word Structure

重鎮 consists of the two kanji characters “重じゅう” and “鎮ちん“. The former means “heavy”, and the latter means “weight”. Therefore, the literal meaning of the word is “heavy weight”, and it figuratively describes a person who is very important, as in “heavyweight” in English.

Related Word: 文鎮ぶんちん (bunchin)

文鎮 is another word that contains “鎮”, and means “a paperweight”. This word is often used figuratively to describe a completely broken IT device, which works as nothing but a paperweight. It can also be used as a verb as “文鎮ぶんちん化かする”, which means “(an IT device) becomes a paperweight; becomes completely useless)”.

Example Sentences

Ex1
その会議かいぎには、政治せいじ界かいの重鎮が多数たすう参加さんかした
A lot of leading lights in the world of politics (political heavyweights) joined the meeting.

Ex2
多おおくのアート界かいや音楽おんがく界かいの重鎮がそのパーティーに招待しょうたいされた
A lot of  leading lights in the world of arts and music were invited to the party.

Ex3
彼かれはマイクロソフトの重鎮として知しられている。
He is famous for an important worker in Microsoft

Synonyms: ドン (bigwig), ボス (boss), 大御所おおごしょ (very important and experienced person/veteran)
Synonyms in English: heavyweight, bigwig, leading light
Related words and phrases: 文鎮 (ぶんちん, paperweight)