despot

See also: Despot

English

Etymology

From Middle French despote, from Old French despote, from Medieval Latin despota, from Ancient Greek δεσπότης (despótēs, “lord, master, owner”). Cognate with Sanskrit दम्पति (dámpati).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛs.pɒt/, /ˈdɛz.pɒt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛs.pət/

• Audio (Canada)

  (file)

Noun

despot (plural despots)

1. A ruler with absolute power; a tyrant.
   • 2009, Steven Rosefielde, Red Holocaust, page 240:

     The Red Holocaust is best interpreted in this light as the bitter fruit of an utopian gambit that was socially misengineered into a dystopic nightmare by despots in humanitarian disguise.

2. (historical) A title awarded to senior members of the imperial family in the late Byzantine Empire, and claimed by various independent or semi-autonomous rulers in the Balkans (12th to 15th centuries)

Derived terms

• despotate
• despotism

Translations

ruler with absolute power; tyrant

• Albanian: despot (sq) m
• Arabic: طَاغٍ‎ m (ṭāḡin) (indefinite), الطَاغِي‎ m (aṭ-ṭāḡī) (definite), مُسْتَبِدّ‎ (mustabidd), ظَالِم‎ (ar) m (ẓālim), طَاغِيَة‎ f (ṭāḡiya)
• Armenian: բռնակալ (hy) (bṙnakal), բռնապետ (hy) (bṙnapet)
• Belarusian: дэ́спат m (déspat)
• Bulgarian: де́спот (bg) m (déspot)
• Catalan: dèspota (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: please add this translation if you can

  Mandarin: 暴君 (zh) (bàojūn), 霸王 (zh) (bàwáng)

• Czech: despota (cs) m
• Danish: despot c
• Dutch: despoot (nl) m
• Esperanto: despoto
• Estonian: despoot (et)
• Finnish: despootti (fi)
• French: despote (fr) m or f
• Georgian: დესპოტი (desṗoṭi)
• German: Despot (de) m, Despotin f
• Greek: δεσπότης (el) m (despótis)
• Hebrew: רודן‎ (he) m (rodán)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: kényúr (hu), zsarnok (hu), despota (hu)
• Irish: forlámhaí m
• Italian: despota (it) m
• Japanese: 暴君 (ja) (ぼうくん, bōkun)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 폭군(暴君) (ko) (pokgun)
• Lao: ທໍລະລາດ (thǭ la lāt), ທໍຣະຣາດ (thǭ ra rāt)
• Latin: tyrannus m
• Latvian: despots m
• Lithuanian: despotas m
• Macedonian: деспот m (despot)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: despot m

• Persian: مستبد‎ (fa) (mostabedd)
• Polish: despota (pl) m
• Portuguese: déspota (pt) m or f
• Romanian: despot (ro) m
• Russian: де́спот (ru) m (déspot)
• Slovak: despota m
• Slovene: despot m
• Spanish: déspota (es) m or f
• Swedish: despot (sv) c
• Tajik: мустабид (mustabid)
• Thai: ทรราช (th) (tɔɔ-rá-râat)
• Turkish: despot (tr), diktatör (tr), müstebit (tr), mütegallibe (tr), tiran (tr), zorba (tr)
• Ukrainian: де́спот m (déspot)
• Vietnamese: bạo quân (vi), bá vương (vi)

Anagrams

• T posed, T-posed, depots, dopest, dépôts, posted, ptosed, stoped

Danish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δεσπότης (despótēs, “lord, master”).

Noun

despot c (singular definite despoten, plural indefinite despoter)

1. despot

Inflection

Declension of despot

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	despot	despoten	despoter	despoterne
genitive	despots	despotens	despoters	despoternes

Synonyms

• tyran

Derived terms

• despoti n
• despotisk (adjective)
• despotisme c

Further reading

• “despot” in Den Danske Ordbog

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Greek δεσπότης (despótis).

Noun

despot m (plural despoți)

1. despot

Declension

Declension of despot

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) despot	despotul	(niște) despoți	despoții
genitive/dative	(unui) despot	despotului	(unor) despoți	despoților
vocative	despotule		despoților

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /děspot/
• Hyphenation: des‧pot

Noun

dèspot m (Cyrillic spelling дѐспот)

1. despot

Declension

Declension of despot

	singular	plural
nominative	despot	despoti
genitive	despota	despota
dative	despotu	despotima
accusative	despota	despote
vocative	despote	despoti
locative	despotu	despotima
instrumental	despotom	despotima

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek δεσπότης (despótēs).

Noun

despot c

1. despot

Declension

Declension of despot
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	despot	despoten	despoter	despoterna
Genitive	despots	despotens	despoters	despoternas

Related terms

• despoti
• despotisk
• despotism
• despotvälde

Further reading

• despot in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• despot in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• despot in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)