Conqueror

How to spell conqueror

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce conqueror

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does conqueror mean?

1. nounA person who defeats and takes control of a place or people, especially by military force.

Conqueror in a sentence

• The museum exhibit traced the route of the ancient conqueror across three kingdoms.

• History books often praise the conqueror while ignoring the people who were defeated.

Where does conqueror come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word arrived in English in the 1200s from Old French conquerre and its agent form conquereor, which in turn rest on the Latin verb conquirere, meaning 'to search out, procure, or win'. That Latin verb was built from the intensifying prefix con- (here meaning 'thoroughly') and quaerere, 'to seek or to ask', the same root that gives us 'query', 'inquire', and 'quest'. So a conqueror was literally one who 'sought out and gained' territory or victory, and over time the sense narrowed to gaining by force of arms. The English spelling kept the Latin-flavoured -or ending rather than the -er an English speaker might expect, which is the small trap: it is conqueROR, not conquerER. The most famous example fixed in the language is William the Conqueror, whose 1066 victory helped pour thousands of French-derived words like this one into English.

How the word is built

• con- (together, thoroughly)
• quer (from Latin quaerere: to seek, win)
• -or (agent noun suffix: one who does)