khan

Etymology 1

Via late Middle English can, chan from Old French chan, from Medieval Latin chanis, from Turkic *qan, contraction of *qaɣan. Cognate with Old Turkic 𐰴𐰍𐰣 (qaɣan), and Mongolian хаан (xaan). * Sense 1 (ruler in the Middle Ages) after Genghis Khan, from Middle Mongol ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ (qaɣan).

noun

1. (historical) A ruler over various Turkic and Mongol peoples in the Middle Ages.
2. An Ottoman sultan.
3. A noble or man of rank in various Muslim countries of Central Asia, including Afghanistan.

Etymology 2

table From Persian خان (xân, “caravanserai”).

noun

1. A caravanserai; a resting-place for a travelling caravan.
   ‘Guess the name of that,’ she said, pointing to her delicate parts. The porter tried this name and that and ended by asking her to tell him and cease her slapping. ‘The khān of Abu-Mansur,’ she replied. 1923, Powys Mathers, transl., The Thousand Nights and One Night
   At each of these stations there is a hostelry which they call a khan, where travellers alight with their beasts, and outside each khan is a public watering-place and a shop at which the traveller may buy what he requires for himself and his beast. 1958-1994, Hamilton Gibb & CF Beckingham, in The Travels of Ibn Battutah, Folio Society 2012, page 27