duke

See also: Duke and dûke

English

Etymology

From Old French duc, through Middle English duk, duke, from Latin dux, ducis. Displaced native Old English heretoga. Was present as duc in late Old English, from the same Latin source. Doublet of doge, duc, duce, and dux.

The “fist” sense is thought to be Cockney rhyming slang where “Duke(s) of York” = fork. Fork is itself Cockney slang for hand, and thus fist.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /djuːk/, /dʒuːk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d(j)uːk/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːk
• (yod-coalescence) Homophone: juke

Noun

duke (plural dukes)

1. The male ruler of a duchy (female equivalent: duchess).
2. The sovereign of a small state.
3. A high title of nobility; the male holder of a dukedom.

   Hypernyms: title, holder

   Hyponyms: duc (“French duke”), herzog (“German duke”)

   Coordinate terms: baron, count, countess, earl, marquis, marquess, viscount, prince, monarch

4. A grand duke.
5. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genera Bassarona and Dophla.
6. (slang, usually in the plural) A fist.

   Put up your dukes!

   • 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 438:

     “Your friend sure knows how to use his dukes. Biff, bang! One, two, and the copʼs on his ass!”

   • 1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 19:

     "How did the sport go."
     "O sparred a few rounds. Let the instructor have a few on the button."
     "You must be tough."
     "I can handle my dukes."

Derived terms

• archduke
• beduke
• Duke blue
• duke cherry
• Duke City
• dukedom
• duke it out
• dukeling
• dukely
• Duke of Norfolk's Island
• Duke of York's Island
• dukery
• Dukes County
• dukeship
• dukicide
• grand duke
• grand dukedom
• put up one's dukes
• unduke

Related terms

• ducal
• duchess
• duchy
• grand duchy

Translations

male ruler of a duchy

• Afrikaans: hertog
• Arabic: دُوق m (dūq)
• Armenian: դուքս (hy) (dukʻs)
• Azerbaijani: hersoq, knyaz
• Belarusian: ге́рцаг m (hjércah), князь m (knjazʹ)
• Bulgarian: хе́рцог m (hércog), дук m (duk)
• Catalan: duc (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 公爵 (zh) (gōngjué)

• Czech: vévoda (cs) m
• Dalmatian: ducat m
• Danish: hertug c
• Dutch: hertog (nl) m
• Esperanto: duko (eo)
• Estonian: hertsog (et)
• Faroese: hertogi m
• Finnish: herttua (fi)
• French: duc (fr) m

  Middle French: duc m

  Old French: duc m

• Galician: duque m
• Georgian: ჰერცოგი (hercogi) ერისთავი (eristavi)
• German: Herzog (de) m
• Greek: δούκας (el) m (doúkas)

  Ancient: (Byzantine) δούξ (doúx)

• Hawaiian: duke
• Hebrew: דוכס (he) (dukás)
• Hindi: शासक (hi) (śāsak)
• Hungarian: herceg (hu)
• Icelandic: hertogi m
• Indonesian: adipati (id)
• Irish: diúc (ga) m
• Italian: duca (it) m
• Japanese: 公爵 (ja) (こうしゃく, kōshaku)
• Khmer: ចៅពញា (km) m (chav pnyie), អ្នកឧកញ៉ា (neak ok nha)
• Korean: 공작(公爵) (ko) (gongjak)
• Latgalian: gercogs m
• Latin: (Medieval) dux (la) m
• Latvian: hercogs
• Limburgish: hertog (li)
• Lithuanian: hercogas m
• Macedonian: војвода m (vojvoda)
• Manchu: ᡤᡠᠩ (gung)
• Manx: duic
• Maori: tiuka
• Marathi: ड्यूक (ḍyūk)
• Mongolian: гүн (mn) (gün)
• Norman: duc m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hertug (no) m

  Nynorsk: hertug m

• Occitan: duc m
• Old English: ealdorman m, eorl m, heretoga m
• Old Occitan: duc m
• Ottoman Turkish: دوقه (duka)
• Pashto: ډیوک
• Persian: دوک (fa) (duk)
• Polish: książę (pl) m
• Portuguese: duque (pt) m
• Romanian: duce (ro) m
• Russian: ге́рцог (ru) m (gércog), князь (ru) m (knjazʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: diùc m
• Serbo-Croatian: vojvoda (sh) m, војвода m
• Slovak: vojvoda m
• Slovene: vojvoda (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wójwoda m

• Spanish: duque (es) m
• Swedish: hertig (sv) c
• Tagalog: duke
• Thai: , ดุ๊ก (dúk), ดยุก (dà-yúk)
• Turkish: dük (tr), duka (tr)
• Turkmen: gersog
• Ukrainian: ге́рцог m (hércoh), князь m (knjazʹ)
• Uzbek: gersog (uz)
• Vietnamese: công tước (vi) 公爵
• Volapük: dük (vo), hidük (male), jidük (vo) (female)
• Walloon: duk (wa) m
• West Frisian: hartoch c
• Yiddish: הערצאָג m (hertsog)

male holder of a dukedom

• Ancient Greek: δούξ m (doúx)
• Azerbaijani: hersoq, knyaz
• Bulgarian: херцог m (hercog), дук m (duk)
• Catalan: duc (ca)
• Czech: vévoda (cs) m
• Danish: hertug c
• Faroese: hertogi m
• Finnish: herttua (fi)
• Greek: δούκας (el) m (doúkas)
• Hawaiian: duke
• Hungarian: herceg (hu)
• Icelandic: hertogi m
• Indonesian: adipati (id)
• Irish: diúc (ga) m
• Latvian: hercogs m
• Lithuanian: hercogas m
• Macedonian: војвода m (vojvoda)
• Maori: tiuka
• Marathi: ड्यूक (ḍyūk)
• Norman: duc m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hertug (no) m

  Nynorsk: hertug m

• Old English: ealdorman m, eorl m, heretoga m
• Polish: książę (pl) m
• Portuguese: duque (pt) m
• Romanian: duce (ro) m
• Scottish Gaelic: diùc m
• Slovene: vojvoda (sl) m
• Spanish: duque (es) m
• Thai: ดุ๊ก (dúk), ดยุก (dà-yúk)
• Turkish: dük (tr)
• Volapük: dük (vo), hidük (male), jidük (vo) (female)
• Walloon: duk (wa) m
• Yiddish: הערצאָג m (hertsog)

grand duke

• Bulgarian: велик херцог m (velik hercog)
• Czech: velkovévoda m
• Danish: storhertug c (Luxembourg, German states and Western Europe), storfyrste c (Lithuania, Moscow and tsarist Finland)
• Finnish: suurherttua
• German: Großherzog (de) m, Grossherzog (de) m (Switzerland and Liechtenstein)
• Greek: μέγας δούκας m (mégas doúkas)
• Irish: ard-diúc m
• Latvian: lielhercogs m, erchercogs m
• Luxembourgish: Herzog m
• Macedonian: голем војвода m (golem vojvoda)
• Manx: ard-duic m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: storhertug m

  Nynorsk: storhertug m

• Portuguese: grão-duque m
• Thai: ดุ๊ก (dúk), ดยุก (dà-yúk)
• Volapük: ledük (vo), hiledük (male), jiledük (vo) (female)

slang: fist

• Bulgarian: юмрук (bg) m (jumruk)
• Thai: หมัด (th) (màt)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Breton: ^{(please verify)} dug (br) m pl
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} dux (la) m
• Lithuanian: (1, 2) ^{(please verify)} hercogas m

Verb

duke (third-person singular simple present dukes, present participle duking, simple past and past participle duked)

1. (transitive, informal) To hit or beat with the fists.
   • 2003, John A. Dinan, Private Eyes in the Comics, →ISBN, page 65:

     It seems that PI Rainer was duked by his wife […] .

2. (slang, transitive) To give cash to; to give a tip to.

   Synonym: tip

   I duked him twenty dollars.

3. To perform the duties of, or rule over as, a duke.

Derived terms

• duke in
• duke it
• duke it out
• duke out
• duke up

Further reading

• “duke, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Albanian

Etymology

From older nduke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdukɛ]

Particle

duke

1. A particle which precedes a participle to form a gerundive adverbial phrase.

   duke kënduar — (while) singing, by singing

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /duke/ [d̪u.ke]
• Rhymes: -uke, -e
• Hyphenation: du‧ke

Verb

duke

1. (Northern or archaic) Third-person singular (hark), taking third-person singular (hura) as direct object, future indicative form of izan.

Usage notes

Linguistically, this verb form can be seen as belonging to the reconstructed citation form edun instead of izan.

Bikol Central

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish duque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈduke/ [ˈd̪u.ke]
• Hyphenation: du‧ke

Noun

dúke (feminine dukesa, Basahan spelling ᜇᜓᜃᜒ)

1. duke

Middle English

Noun

duke

1. Alternative form of duk (“duke”)

Scots

Verb

duke (third-person singular simple present dukes, present participle dukin, simple past dukit, past participle dukit)

1. (intransitive) To cut into a queue, without permission.
2. (transitive) To cut into a queue in front of someone.

   Oi, dinnae duke us!

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish duque (“duke”), from Old French duc, from Latin dux.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈduke/ [ˈd̪uː.xɛ]
• Rhymes: -uke
• Syllabification: du‧ke

Noun

duke (Baybayin spelling ᜇᜓᜃᜒ)

1. duke

Related terms

• artsidukado
• artsiduke
• artsidukesa
• dukado
• dukesa

Further reading

• “duke”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018