prince means A surname transferred from the nickname for someone who acted like a prince, or played the part in a pageant, or served in the household of a prince. It carries an Arena rating of 1589, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, prince ranks #471 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,285 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,313 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #6,343 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
prince is pronounced /pɹɪns/.
Why “prince” is a great word
A male member of a royal family, especially a son of a sovereign, or the hereditary ruler of a principality. From Middle English *prince*, from Anglo-Norman *prince*, from Latin *prīnceps* (“first, chief, sovereign”), from *prīmus* (“first”) + *capiō* (“to take, seize”). Unlike a king, the supreme monarch of an independent realm, or a duke, a high noble whose title is one of rank more than inherent royal destiny, a prince occupies the tense, luminous space between inheritance and rule. He is the gilded heir practicing his signature in a sunlit corridor, the sovereign of a postage-stamp state measuring his dignity in stamps and cuckoo clocks, the spare to the heir living a life of polished contingency. He is perpetual potential, defined not by what he is, but by what he might one day become, or tragically, might not.
Etymology
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 and principe. 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.
name
- A surname transferred from the nickname for someone who acted like a prince, or played the part in a pageant, or served in the household of a prince.
- A male given name from English in occasional use.e.g.“Prince Fielder hit another home run today.”
- A township in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada.
- A hamlet in the Rural Municipality of Meota No. 468, Saskatchewan, Canada.
- A census-designated place in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States.
noun
- A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch.
- A female monarch.e.g.“Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex.” — 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:
- Someone who is preeminent in their field; a great person.e.g.“He is a prince among men.”
- The (male) ruler or head of a principality.e.g.“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.” — 2011 June 26, Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian:
- A male member of a royal family other than the ruler; especially (in the United Kingdom) the son or grandson of the monarch.
- A non-royal high title of nobility, especially in France and the Holy Roman Empire.e.g.“Prince Louis de Broglie won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physics.”
- 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.
- The title of a prince.
verb
- To behave or act like a prince.
- To transform (someone) into a prince.e.g.“All I could remember is the chorus, and something about pumpkins turning into princesses (???!) and frogs turning into princes. I figured she meant the frog was John before she princed him.” — 2005 March 30, abe slaney, “Question re John Lennon's Death”, in rec.music.beatles (Usenet):
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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