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interregnum

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Interregnum

English

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WOTD – 30 January 2026

Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin interrēgnum, from inter- (prefix meaning ‘between’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér (“between”)) + rēgnum (“reign; royal power”)[1] (nominalized from the neuter of *rēgnus, from rēx (“king; ruler”, oblique stem rēg-) + -nus (suffix forming adjectives), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to righten; to straighten”)).

The plural form interregna is a learned borrowing from Latin interrēgna.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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interregnum (plural interregnums or interregna)

  1. A period of time between the end of one monarch's reign and the accession of their successor.
    The Sasanian Interregnum of 628–632
    • 1897, Edward Bellamy, Equality, Chapter 15:
      It was not till the kings had been shorn of power and the interregnum of sham democracy had set in, leaving no virile force in the state or the world to resist the money power, that the opportunity for a world-wide plutocratic despotism arrived.
  2. (by extension)
    1. (figurative) A break in continuity; a gap, an intermission.
      Synonyms: hiatus, interval, moratorium, pause, recess; see also Thesaurus:pause
      • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 224:
        Is it not Pelham who wonders what becomes of servants when they are not wanted;—whether, like the tones of an instrument, they exist but when called for? About servants we will not decide; but that some such interregnum certainly occurs in female existence on rising from table, no one can doubt who ever noted the sound of the dining and the silence of the drawing-room.
      • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, “chapter XIV”, in The Partisan, Harper, page 179:
        This was in that strange pause of the storm which is its most remarkable feature in the South—that singular interregnum of the winds, when, after giving repeated notice of their most terrific action, they seem almost to forget their purpose, and for a few moments appear to slumber in their inactivity.
      • 1946 May and June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 146:
        Between the end of the Fowler régime in 1931 and the advent of Stanier in 1932, there was a short interregnum during which Ernest Lemon was in charge, with Ernest Beames as his principal aide-de-camp.
      • 1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 17:
        All I know is that you could, if you wanted to, find the answers to all sorts of difficult questions buried in that terrible war-torn interregnum between the first pubic hair and the first soiled Durex.
      • 2025 January 30, Linda Feldmann, “Understanding the Trump chaos: It’s about wielding executive power”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
        Another element leading to the quick-out-of-the-gate second Trump term took place during the four-year interregnum of President Joe Biden.
    2. (Christianity) A period of time between when a minister or pastor leaves a church and when a new one is installed.
    3. (politics) A period of time between the end of one political leader's term and the start of the term of their successor; a period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended, and a polity is either left without leadership or has only a temporary one.
      • 2025 January 10, Peter Thiel, “A time for truth and reconciliation”, in Financial Times‎[1]:
        Darker questions still emerge in these dusky final weeks of our interregnum.
  3. (obsolete) A temporary exercise of authority or rule during a period of time when there is no monarch or political leader.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ “interregnum, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “interregnum, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin interrēgnum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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interregnum n (plural interregna or interregnums, diminutive interregnumpje n)

  1. interregnum
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Descendants

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  • →? Indonesian: interegnum (or directly from the Latin)

Latin

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Latin Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia la

Etymology

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From inter- (“between”) +‎ rēgnum (“reign”), corresponding to interrēx.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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interrēgnum n (genitive interrēgnī); second declension

  1. interregnum

Declension

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Second-declension noun (neuter).

singular plural
nominative interrēgnum interrēgna
genitive interrēgnī interrēgnōrum
dative interrēgnō interrēgnīs
accusative interrēgnum interrēgna
ablative interrēgnō interrēgnīs
vocative interrēgnum interrēgna

Descendants

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References

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  • “interregnum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “interregnum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "interregnum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • things seem tending towards an interregnum: res fluit ad interregnum
    • an interregnum ensues: res ad interregnum venit or adducitur
  • “interregnum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Norwegian Bokmål

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Noun

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interregnum n (definite singular interregnumet or interregnet, indefinite plural interregna or interregner, definite plural interregnaene or interregna or interregnene)

  1. an interregnum

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Noun

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interregnum n (definite singular interregnumet, indefinite plural interregnum, definite plural interregnuma)

  1. an interregnum

Inflection

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Historical inflection of interregnum
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
1920 interregnum interregnumet interregnum interregnuma, interregnumi
1938 interregnuma [interregnumi]
1981-19831 interregnet, interregnumet interregna, interregnum interregna, interregnaa [interregnai], interregnuma [interregnumi]
2012 (current) interregnum interregnumet interregnum interregnuma
  • Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard.
  • Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier. 1Decisions on the definite singular, indefinite plural and definite plural forms, were made in 1983, 1981 and 1982 respectively.

Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin interrēgnum.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /in.tɛrˈrɛɡ.num/
  • Rhymes: -ɛɡnum
  • Syllabification: in‧ter‧reg‧num

Noun

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interregnum n

  1. interregnum (period of time between the end of a sovereign's reign and the accession of another sovereign)
    Synonyms: bezkrólewie, międzykrólewie
  2. interregnum (period of time during which normal executive leadership is suspended or interrupted)
    Synonym: bezkrólewie
  3. (Ancient Rome, historical) interregnum (period of time between consuls' terms of office)

Declension

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Declension of interregnum
singular plural
nominative interregnum interregna
genitive interregnum interregnów
dative interregnum interregnom
accusative interregnum interregna
instrumental interregnum interregnami
locative interregnum interregnach
vocative interregnum interregna

Further reading

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