Reign

How to spell reign

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce reign

What does reign mean?

1. nounThe period during which a monarch or supreme ruler holds power.
2. verbTo hold royal office, or to be the dominant quality in a situation.

Reign in a sentence

• noun

  The queen's reign lasted longer than any other British monarch's.

• verb

  A monarch may reign for decades before passing the throne to an heir.

• noun

  The museum exhibit covered art produced during the king's reign.

• verb

  Calm seemed to reign over the office after the deadline passed.

Where does reign come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin regnum, meaning 'kingdom' or 'royal rule', which was built on the verb regere, 'to rule or guide straight', the same root that gives us 'regal', 'regent', and 'rector'. It travelled into English through Old French, where it appeared as 'regne', and was adopted in the 1200s to describe both a monarch's authority and the period during which that authority lasts. The silent 'g' in the modern spelling is a deliberate echo of the Latin regnum, reinserted by scribes who wanted to show the classical pedigree, even though it was never strongly pronounced in English. That borrowed-back 'g' is exactly the trap, because the word sounds identical to 'rain' and 'rein' yet hides a letter neither of those shares. Keeping the Latin sense of 'rule' in mind is the surest way to remember that this is the kingly word, not the weather one or the horse one.

How the word is built

• reign (from Latin regnum: kingdom, rule)

Words that sound like reign

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• rain: Water that falls from clouds in drops.
• rein: A long strap attached to a horse's bridle, used by the rider to guide and control the animal.