prince
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From 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
[edit]prince (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
[edit]Coordinate terms
[edit]Derived 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
- Princes End
- Princes Risborough
- Princeville
- Prince William County
- water prince
Related terms
[edit]Translations
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Verb
[edit]prince (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, Oxfordshire: 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
[edit]French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Middle French prince, from Old French prince, a semi-learned borrowing from Latin prīnceps.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]prince m (plural princes)
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[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
[edit]Middle French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Old French prince.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]prince m (plural princes)
Descendants
[edit]- French: prince
Old French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Semi-learned borrowing from Latin prīnceps.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]prince oblique singular, m (oblique plural princes, nominative singular princes, nominative plural prince)
Old Occitan
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin prīnceps, possibly a borrowing.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]prince 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
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]prince 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 links
- 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 links
- 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 links
- Walloon lemmas
- Walloon nouns
- Walloon masculine nouns