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prince

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prince¹

  • /pɹɪns/

Sounds like prints (/pɹɪnts/) (in some accents) · Rhymes with -ɪns

Where it comes from

From Middle English prince, from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prī̆nceps (“first, foremost (person)”), 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”).

noun princes

  1. archaic, historical A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch. 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.
  2. obsolete A female monarch. Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex.
  3. Someone who is preeminent in their field; a great person. He is a prince among men.
  4. The (male) ruler or head of a principality. 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.
  5. A male member of a royal family other than the ruler; especially (in the United Kingdom) the son or grandson of the monarch.
  6. 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.
  7. A type of court card used in tarot cards, the equivalent of the jack.
  8. The mushroom Agaricus augustus.
  9. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Rohana.

verb princes · princing · princed

  1. intransitive, often, rare, followed by dummy subject it To behave or act like a prince. The Roofes of Palaces, and Nature prompts them / In ſimple and lowe things, to Prince it, much / Beyond the tricke of others.
  2. rare, transitive To transform (someone) into a prince. 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.

Prince²

noun Princes

  1. The title of a prince. Having been at the center of an international tragedy, the general public view is that the next generation—Princes William and Harry, and also Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice—have suffered enough and deserve every moment of happiness coming their way, and people are more than willing to help them ce

proper noun Princes

  1. countable, uncountable 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.
  2. countable, uncountable A male given name from English in occasional use. Prince Fielder hit another home run today.
  3. countable, uncountable A township in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada.
  4. countable, uncountable A hamlet in the Rural Municipality of Meota No. 468, Saskatchewan, Canada.
  5. countable, uncountable A census-designated place in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: princely, royalty, duke, princess, knight, hereditary, heir, lord, guardian, principle, first, wales, charming, highness, wole, wali

Translations

Every language

noun son or male-line grandson of a reigning monarch

Españolpríncipe (firstborn), infante
한국어왕자 wangja
日本語王子 ōji
中文王子 wángzǐ, 皇子 huángzǐ
हिन्दीयुवराज yuvrāj, राजकुमार rājkumār, शहज़ादा śahzādā, कुँवर kũvar
Portuguêspríncipe
Françaisprince
DeutschPrinz, Königssohn, Königsenkel
Italianoprincipe
Ελληνικάπρίγκιπας prígkipas
Românăprinț
Русскийпринц princ, царе́вич carévič, короле́вич korolévič
Tiếng Việtvương tử, hoàng tử
العربيةأَمِير ʔamīr
עבריתנָסִיךְ nasik, בֶּן מֶלֶךְ ben mélech

noun (figuratively) great person

Portuguêsmaioral
DeutschKönig
Ελληνικάάρχοντας árchontas, πρίγκιπας prígkipas
Русскийпринц princ

noun male ruler or head of a principality

Españolpríncipe, conde
한국어대공 daegong, 대군 daegun
日本語公 kō, 候 kō, 大公 taikō, 王子 ōji, 皇子 kōshi
中文亲王 qīnwáng, 國王 /国王 guówáng, 郡王 jùnwáng, 王 wáng, 王爵 wángjué, 王爷 huángzǐ
हिन्दीयुवराज yuvrāj, कुँवर kũvar, शहज़ादा śahzādā, राजकुमार rājkumār
Kiswahilimkuu
Portuguêspríncipe
Françaisprince
DeutschFürst
Italianoprincipe
Ελληνικάπρίγκιπας prígkipas, βασιλόπουλο vasilópoulo
Românăprinț
Русскийкнязь knjazʹ, принц princ
Tiếng Việthoàng tử, vương tử
العربيةأَمِير ʔamīr
עבריתנָסִיךְ nasik

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Cite this
MLA

"prince." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/prince. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

prince. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/prince

Chicago

"prince." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/prince.

BibTeX
@misc{prince_2026,
  title = {prince},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/prince},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}