Kingpin

A kingpin is not a king, nor is it a bowling pin. The kingpin is the most important person in an organization.

YouTube / iTunes / Spotify / Radio Public / Pocket Casts / Google Podcasts / Breaker / Overcast

Listen to ArtisanEnglish.jp posts & lesson intros here.



Word of the Day: Kingpin

Kingpin is another useful word to know.

The kingpin I am referring to here is not a king or a bowling pin.

The kingpin is the most important person in an organization.

For example, at ArtisanEnglish.jp, I am the kingpin.  

It may make me sound important (which I am not), but actually, I am the only person here, so by default, I am the big kahuna, but you get my meaning.

The most important person in an organization is the kingpin.

You may see it used in the news.

When reporting on the arrest of the primary person of an illegal group, reporters may say that police have arrested the kingpin of a drug cartel or a smuggling operation, etc.

As far as I know, the term kingpin has its roots in bowling.

In bowling, it’s the pin right in the middle, also known as the five-pin.

If you bring down the kingpin, you bring down the others.


This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).  

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 73.  

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.



Posted

in

by