Countess

How to spell countess

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce countess

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does countess mean?

1. nounA noblewoman who holds the rank of a count or earl, either as his wife or in her own right.

Countess in a sentence

• The countess inherited the estate after her husband died.

• The ageing countess rarely left her country house near the coast.

Where does countess come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the 1100s through Old French contesse, which descended from the Late Latin comitissa. That Latin form was the feminine of comes, a word that literally meant 'companion' or 'one who goes with you', built from com- 'together' and the root of ire 'to go'. Under the late Roman and early medieval system, a comes was originally a trusted companion of the emperor or king, and the title gradually hardened into a hereditary noble rank. The feminine ending -issa, which English smoothed into -ess, marks the woman who held or shared that rank, just as it does in 'duchess' and 'princess'. In Britain the male equivalent is usually called an earl rather than a count, yet his wife is still styled a countess, a quirk that explains why the spelling keeps the Latin-derived -ess rather than any native form.

How the word is built

• count- (count, a nobleman ranking below a marquess)
• -ess (feminine suffix)