dauphin

See also: Dauphin and dauphîn

English

Etymology

Borrowing from French dauphin, from Old French dalphin, from Latin delphinus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔːfæn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒfɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɔːfɪn, -ɒfɪn

Noun

dauphin (plural dauphins)

1. The eldest son of the king of France. Under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties, the Dauphin of France, generally shortened to Dauphin, was heir apparent to the throne of France. The title derived from the main title of the Dauphin, Dauphin of Viennois.
2. (allegorical): An eldest son.
   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:

     "I wish we were back in Tenth Street. But so many children came […] and the Tenth Street house wasn't half big enough; and a dreadful speculative builder built this house and persuaded Austin to buy it. Oh, dear, and here we are among the rich and great; and the steel kings and copper kings and oil kings and their heirs and dauphins. […]"

Translations

eldest son of king of France

• French: dauphin (fr) m
• Polish: delfin (pl) m
• Portuguese: dauphin m, delfim (pt) m

• Romanian: delfin (ro) m
• Russian: дофи́н (ru) m (dofín)

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French

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /do.fɛ̃/

Etymology 1

From Old French dalphin, from Latin delphinus

Noun

dauphin m (plural dauphins)

1. dolphin
2. (heraldry) dolphin; the animal used as a charge

Etymology 2

From French proper name Dauphin through association with crown princes of the name, from French dauphin, from Old French dalphin, from Latin delphinus

Noun

dauphin m (plural dauphins, feminine dauphine)

1. successor, dauphin
2. runner-up

Derived terms

• delphinal

Further reading

• “dauphin” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
• 'dauphin' in French Wiktionary

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from French dauphin.

Noun

dauphin m (plural dauphins)

1. (historical) dauphin (eldest son of the king of France)

Synonyms

• delfim