marquis

See also: Marquis

English

Alternative forms

• marquess

Etymology

From French marquis, from Old French markis, marchis, from Late Latin marchensis, from Old High German marcha and Frankish *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō, from Proto-Indo-European *marǵ- (“edge, boundary”).

Meaning is “lord of the march”, in sense of march (“border country”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑː.kwɪs/
• IPA^(key): /mɑɹ.ˈki/, /ˈmɑɹ.kwɪs/
• IPA^(key): /mɑɹ.ˈkiz/

Noun

marquis (plural marquises or marquis)

1. A nobleman in England, France, and Germany, of a rank next below that of duke, but above a count. Originally, the marquis was an officer whose duty was to guard the marches or frontiers of the kingdom. The office has ceased, and the name is now a mere title conferred by letters patent or letters close.
2. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genus .

Derived terms

• marchioness
• marquee
• marquisate

Translations

nobleman — see marquess

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “marquis”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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Catalan

Verb

marquis

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French

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French marchis, from the same origin as marcher.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʁ.ki/

• Audio:

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Noun

marquis m (plural marquis, feminine marquise)

1. marquess (title of nobility)

Further reading

• “marquis”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.