Shere Khan
| Shere Khan | |
|---|---|
| The Jungle Book character | |
Shere Khan and his wolf followers, as illustrated by Maurice de Becque in a 1924 French edition of The Jungle Book | |
| First appearance | "Mowgli's Brothers" |
| Created by | Rudyard Kipling |
| In-universe information | |
| Nickname | Lungri |
| Species | Bengal tiger |
| Gender | Male |
Shere Khan (/ˈʃɪər ˈkɑːn/) is a fictional Bengal tiger featured in the Mowgli stories of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. He is often portrayed as the main antagonist in the book's media adaptations, itself an exaggeration of his role in the original stories, in which he only appears a third of the time. Shere Khan is named after Afghan Emperor Sher Shah Suri. Khan is a title of distinction among the Turco-Mongol peoples, usually meaning chief or ruler. According to The Kipling Society, the name shows that Shere Khan "is the chief among tigers".