Duchess

How to spell duchess

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce duchess

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does duchess mean?

1. nounA woman who holds the rank of duke in her own right, or the wife or widow of a duke.

Duchess in a sentence

• The duchess opened the new wing of the hospital this morning.

• The young duchess inherited the estate after her husband died.

Where does duchess come from?

Language of origin: French

This title travelled into English from the Old French duchesse, which was the feminine partner of duc, the French word for a duke or military leader. Behind both lies the Latin dux, meaning 'leader' or 'guide', a noun built on the verb ducere 'to lead'; the medieval Latin form ducissa supplied the feminine ending. English adopted the word in the early 1300s as the wife of a duke or a woman holding a dukedom in her own right. The same dux root quietly powers a whole family of English words, including 'conduct', 'produce', and 'educate', all of which carry the idea of leading or drawing along. The spelling trap is the silent shape of 'duch' plus the doubled-look '-ess' ending, since the sound suggests something simpler than the letters actually written.

How the word is built

• duch- (from Latin dux: leader)
• -ess (feminine noun suffix)