Prince
nounA male member of a royal family, especially the son of a king or queen, or a male ruler of a small state.
How to spell prince
6 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce prince
What does prince mean?
- nounA male member of a royal family, especially the son of a king or queen, or a male ruler of a small state.
Prince in a sentence
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The young prince waved to the crowd from the palace balcony.
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The tiny mountain state is still governed by a hereditary prince.
Where does prince come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word comes from the Latin princeps, which literally described the person who takes first place, formed from primus meaning 'first' and capere meaning 'to take'. In the Roman world a princeps was a leading citizen or chief, and the title was even adopted by the early emperors to suggest 'first among equals'. English borrowed the word in the 1200s through Old French prince, where it had narrowed to mean a hereditary ruler or the son of a king. The same princeps root still sits inside 'principal' and 'principle', which is a useful reminder that the spelling rests on that 'first, chief' idea rather than the sound 'prinss'. The silent feel of the final -ce, pronounced like an 's', is the small trap that catches careless writers who reach for an -s ending instead.
How the word is built
- princ- (from princeps: first, chief)
- -e
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