king
Meanings
- A male monarch; a man who heads a monarchy; in an absolute monarchy, the supreme ruler of his nation.
- The monarch with the most power and authority in a monarchy, regardless of sex.
- A male leader of a traditional Aboriginal group, often used as a title by colonists.
- A powerful or majorly influential person; someone who holds the preeminent position.
- Something that has a preeminent position.
- A component of certain games.
- The principal chess piece, that players seek to threaten with unavoidable capture to result in a victory by checkmate. It is often the tallest piece, with a symbolic crown with a cross at the top.
- A playing card with the letter "K" and the image of a king on it, the thirteenth card in a given suit.
- A checker (a piece of checkers/draughts) that reached the farthest row forward, thus becoming crowned (either by turning it upside-down, or by stacking another checker on it) and gaining more freedom of movement.
- The central pin or skittle in bowling games.
- A king skin.
- A male dragonfly; a drake.
- To crown king, to make (a person) king.
- To rule over as king.
- To perform the duties of a king.
- To assume or pretend preeminence (over); to lord it over.
- To promote a piece of draughts/checkers that has traversed the board to the opposite side, that piece subsequently being permitted to move backwards as well as forwards.
- To dress and perform as a drag king.
- Alternative form of qing (“Chinese musical instrument”).
- radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter K.
- The title of a king.
- An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname for someone who either acted as if he were a king or had worked in the king's household.
- King class, a class of steam locomotives once used on the GWR.
- A number of places in the United States:
- An unincorporated community in Gibson County, Indiana.
- A city in Stokes County and Forsyth County, North Carolina.
- A neighbourhood in north-east Portland, Oregon.
- An unincorporated community in Clay County, West Virginia.
- An unincorporated community in Wetzel County, West Virginia.
- A town in Lincoln County, Wisconsin.
- A census-designated place in Farmington, Waupaca County, Wisconsin.
- A township in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada.
- A village on New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English king, kyng, from Old English cyng, cyning (“king”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuning, from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz, *kunungaz (“king”), equivalent to kin + -ing. Doublet of cyning and knez. Cognate with Scots king, keeng (“king”), North Frisian kining, köning (“king”), Saterland Frisian Kening (“king”), West Frisian kening (“king”), Dutch koning (“king”), Low German Koning, Köning (“king”), German König (“king”), Danish konge (“king”), Swedish konung, kung (“king”), Norwegian konge (“king”), Icelandic konungur, kóngur (“king”), Polish ksiądz (“priest”), Russian князь (knjazʹ, “prince”), Old Church Slavonic кънѧѕь (kŭnędzĭ), Romanian chinez, Finnish kuningas (“king”), Estonian kuningas, Ingrian kunigas, Veps kunigaz and Võro kuning. Eclipsed non-native Middle English roy (“king”) (Early Modern English roy), borrowed from Old French roi, rei, rai (“king”). The verb is inherited from Middle English kingen, kyngen (“to perform the duties of a king”), itself from the noun.