AmongMongolianandTibetanhigh-rankingBuddhistmonks,theKhutukhtuissecondonlytothatoftheDalaiandthePanchen.Therehave,however,beenvariousinterpretationsofthewordkhutukhtu,itslinguisticorigin,andconnotations.Inthisessay,therefore,IexpoundonthepreliminarytextualresearchIhavemadeintoquestionsregardingtheoriginoftheword"khutukhtu,"itscourseofevolution,andspecificmeaningwhen"Khutukhtu"becamethepostandranktitleforcertainMongolianandTibetanhigh-rankingBuddhistmonks.
