prince
/pɹɪns/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.72 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Someone who is preeminent in their field; a great person.
noun
The (male) ruler or head of a principality.
noun
A male member of a royal family other than the ruler; especially (in the United Kingdom) the son or grandson of the monarch.
noun
A non-royal high title of nobility, especially in France and the Holy Roman Empire.
noun
A type of court card used in tarot cards, the equivalent of the jack.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
- "Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex."
- "He is a prince among men."
- "In some respects the intellectual is indeed closer to the philosopher than to any specialist, and the philosopher is in more than one sense a sort of prince among the intellectuals."
Etymology
From Middle English prince, from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prī̆nceps (“first head”), from prīmus (“first”) + capiō (“seize, take”). Cognate with Old English fruma (“prince, ruler”). Doublet of princeps and principe. Displaced English atheling (“prince”), from Middle English, from Old English æþeling (“prince”). Displaced also Middle English kinebarn (from cynebearn, literally “kinbairn”, i.e. “royal child”), alder < ealdor (“elder, leader, chief, prince, king”), and drighten < dryhten (“lord”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *keh₂p-, prince, prī̆nceps
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in People.
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Homonyms
prints (/pɹɪnts/) (in some accents)