prince
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English prince, from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prīnceps (“first head”), from prīmus (“first”) + capiō (“seize, take”). Cognate with Old English fruma (“prince, ruler”). Doublet of princeps.
Displaced native Middle English atheling, from Old English æþeling; Middle English kinebarn, from Old English cynebearn; Middle English alder, from Old English ealdor; and Middle English drighten, from Old English dryhten.
Pronunciation
edit- enPR: prĭns, IPA(key): /pɹɪns/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪns
- Homophone: prints (/pɹɪnts/) (in some accents)
Noun
editprince (plural princes)
- (now archaic or historical) A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch. [from 13th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 42, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
- Truely, to see our Princes all alone, sitting at their meat, beleagred round with so many talkers, whisperers, and gazing beholders, unknowne what they are or whence they come, I have often rather pittied than envied them.
- 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 600:
- By his last years Erasmus realized that princes like Henry VIII and François I had deceived him in their elaborate negotiations for universal peace, but his belief in the potential of princely power for good remained undimmed.
- 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 411:
- If Henry does not fully trust him, is it surprising? A prince is alone: in his council chamber, in his bedchamber, and finally in Hell's antechamber, stripped – as Harry Percy said – for Judgment.
- (obsolete) A female monarch.
- 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:
- Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex.
- Someone who is preeminent in their field; a great person. [from 13th c.]
- He is a prince among men.
- The (male) ruler or head of a principality. [from 14th c.]
- 2011 June 26, Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian:
- He is the prince who never grew up – a one-time playboy and son of the Hollywood star Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco.
- A male member of a royal family other than the ruler; especially (in the United Kingdom) the son or grandson of the monarch. [from 14th c.]
- A non-royal high title of nobility, especially in France and the Holy Roman Empire.
- Prince Louis de Broglie won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 2011 October 16, Katharine Whitehorn, The Guardian:
- Conspiracy theories are always enticing: one I was involved with in the 50s was about Mayerling, the 19th-century Austrian scandal involving a prince’s lover who died in dodgy circumstances in a hunting lodge.
- A type of court card used in tarot cards, the equivalent of the jack.
- The mushroom Agaricus augustus.
- Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Rohana.
Usage notes
edit- The female equivalent is princess.
- A prince is usually addressed as "Your Highness". A son of a king is "His Royal Highness"; a son of an emperor is "His Imperial Highness". A sovereign prince may have a style such as "His Serene Highness".
Hypernyms
editCoordinate terms
editDerived terms
edit- black prince
- crown prince
- grand prince
- happy as a prince
- merchant prince
- Nigerian prince
- Nigerian prince scam
- pearly prince
- prince bishop
- prince-bishop
- prince charming
- prince consort
- Prince Edward County
- Prince Frederick
- Prince George
- Prince George County
- Prince George's County
- prince-primate
- prince regent
- Prince Rupert
- Princes End
- Princes Risborough
- Princeville
- Prince William County
- Prince William Sound
- water prince
Related terms
editTranslations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Verb
editprince (third-person singular simple present princes, present participle princing, simple past and past participle princed)
- (intransitive, rare, often followed by dummy subject it) To behave or act like a prince.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 382, column 1:
- The Roofes of Palaces, and Nature prompts them / In ſimple and lowe things, to Prince it, much / Beyond the tricke of others.
- (transitive, rare) To transform (someone) into a prince.
References
edit- “prince, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Further reading
edit- Agaricus augustus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Agaricus sect. Arvenses on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
- Agaricus augustus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
- “prince”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “prince”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
editFrench
editEtymology
editInherited from Middle French prince, from Old French prince, a semi-learned borrowing from Latin prīnceps.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editprince m (plural princes)
Derived terms
editDescendants
edit- → English: prince, princess
- → Dutch: prins, prinses
- → Danish: prins, prinsesse
- → Swedish: prins, prinsessa
- → German: Prinz, Prinzessin
- → Irish: prionsa
- → Luxembourgish: Prënz
- → Ottoman Turkish: پرَنْس (prens)
- Turkish: prens
- → Persian: پرَنس (perans)
- → Romanian: prinț, prințesă
- → Latvian: princis, princese
Further reading
edit- “prince”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
editMiddle French
editEtymology
editFrom Old French prince.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editprince m (plural princes)
Descendants
edit- French: prince
Old French
editEtymology
editSemi-learned borrowing from Latin prīnceps.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editprince oblique singular, m (oblique plural princes, nominative singular princes, nominative plural prince)
Old Occitan
editEtymology
editFrom Latin prīnceps, possibly a borrowing.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editprince m (oblique plural princes, nominative singular princes, nominative plural prince)
- prince
- c. 1235, anonymous author, Vida of Jaufre Rudel:
- Jaufres Rudels de Blaia si fo mout gentils hom, e fo princes de Blaia.
Jaufre Rudel of Blaye was a most noble man, and was the Lord of Blaye.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Walloon
editPronunciation
editNoun
editprince m (plural princes, feminine princesse, feminine plural princesses)
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *keh₂p-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪns
- Rhymes:English/ɪns/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with historical senses
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with usage examples
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with rare senses
- English transitive verbs
- en:Euagarics
- en:Female people
- en:Male people
- en:Monarchy
- en:Nobility
- en:Nymphalid butterflies
- en:Stock characters
- English male equivalent nouns
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French learned borrowings from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Monarchy
- fr:Nobility
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French masculine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Old French terms borrowed from Latin
- Old French semi-learned borrowings from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns
- Old Occitan terms derived from Latin
- Old Occitan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old Occitan lemmas
- Old Occitan nouns
- Old Occitan masculine nouns
- Old Occitan terms with quotations
- Walloon terms with IPA pronunciation
- Walloon terms with audio pronunciation
- Walloon lemmas
- Walloon nouns
- Walloon masculine nouns