村長

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 村長 combines 村, village, with 長, head or leader.
• Basic usage: It refers to the person representing a village, for example when explaining plans to residents or greeting people at a village event.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Reading 村 in the compound
  • 村 is read むら on its own, but the full reading of 村長 is そんちょう. In this compound, the character for village takes its on-reading.