Viceroy
nounA person who governs a colony, country, or province as the representative of a monarch.
How to spell viceroy
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce viceroy
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does viceroy mean?
- nounA person who governs a colony, country, or province as the representative of a monarch.
Viceroy in a sentence
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The viceroy ruled the colony on behalf of the distant queen.
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As viceroy of India, he answered directly to the crown in London.
Where does viceroy come from?
Language of origin: French
Viceroy came into English in the sixteenth century from the French word vice-roi, which literally meant 'in place of the king'. The first element is the Latin vice, meaning 'in the place of' or 'instead of', the same element that gives us 'vice-president' and 'vice-chancellor'. The second element is the French roi, 'king', which descends from the Latin rex, regem, also meaning 'king'. A viceroy was therefore an official who governed a colony or province as the personal representative of the monarch, exercising royal authority at a distance. The spelling trap is that English kept the French sense of 'king' but rendered it as 'roy' rather than 'roi'; that older 'roy' spelling survives in surnames like Fitzroy, which meant 'son of the king'.
How the word is built
- vice- (in place of)
- roy (king, from French roi)
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