Prince Meaning
/pɹɪns/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch.
nounA female monarch.
Sentence Examples
The prince bowed down to Snow White.
The prince was changed into a frog.
The prince fell in love with a woodcutter's daughter.
CEFR Practice Quiz
As the eldest son of the king, the ____ is next in line to the throne.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The young ____ was educated abroad before returning to take on royal duties in his home country.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English prince, from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prīnceps (“first head”), from prīmus (“first”) + capiō (“seize, take”). Cognate with Old English fruma (“prince, ruler”). Doublet of princeps and principe. Displaced native Middle English atheling, from Old English æþeling; Middle English kinebarn, from Old English cynebearn; Middle English alder, from Old English ealdor; and Middle English drighten, from Old English dryhten.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Truely, to see our Princes all alone, sitting at their meat, beleagred round with so many talkers, whisperers, and gazing beholders, unknowne what they are or whence they come, I have often rather pittied than envied them."
— 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 42, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
"By his last years Erasmus realized that princes like Henry VIII and François I had deceived him in their elaborate negotiations for universal peace, but his belief in the potential of princely power for good remained undimmed."
— 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 600:
"If Henry does not fully trust him, is it surprising? A prince is alone: in his council chamber, in his bedchamber, and finally in Hell's antechamber, stripped – as Harry Percy said – for Judgment."
— 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 411:
"Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex."
— 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:
"In some respects the intellectual is indeed closer to the philosopher than to any specialist, and the philosopher is in more than one sense a sort of prince among the intellectuals."
— 1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 423:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
As the eldest son of the king, the ____ is next in line to the throne.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The young ____ was educated abroad before returning to take on royal duties in his home country.