monarchy

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French monarchie, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin monarchia, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek μοναρχία (monarkhía), from μόνος (mónos, “only”) + ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “power, authority”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɒnəki/
• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑnɚki/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mon‧ar‧chy

Noun

monarchy (countable and uncountable, plural monarchies)

1. A government in which sovereignty is embodied within a single, today usually hereditary head of state (whether as a figurehead or as a powerful ruler).
   • An absolute monarchy is a monarchy where the monarch is legally the ultimate authority in all temporal matters.
   • A constitutional monarchy is a monarchy in which the monarch's power is legally constrained, ranging from where minor concessions have been made to appease certain factions to where the monarch is a figurehead with all real power in the hands of a legislative body.
2. The territory ruled over by a monarch; a kingdom.
   • Shakespeare

     What scourge for perjury / Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?

3. A form of government where sovereignty is embodied by a single ruler in a state and his high aristocracy representing their separate divided lands within the state and their low aristocracy representing their separate divided fiefs.

Usage notes

Historically refers to a wide variety of systems with a single, nominally absolute ruler (compare autocracy, dictatorship), today primarily refers to and connotes a traditional, hereditary position, often with mainly symbolic power. Typically used of rulers who use the terms king/queen or emperor/empress.

Synonyms

• (rule): See Thesaurus:government
• (state): kingdom

Coordinate terms

• See Thesaurus:government

Related terms

• monarch
• monarchic

Translations

form of government with a hereditary head of state

• Afrikaans: monargie
• Albanian: mbretëri (sq) f
• Arabic: مَلِكِيَّة f (malikiyya)
• Armenian: միապետություն (hy) (miapetutʻyun)
• Asturian: monarquía f
• Azerbaijani: monarxiya
• Basque: monarkia
• Belarusian: мана́рхія f (manárxija)
• Bengali: রাজতন্ত্র (rajotontro)
• Breton: unpenniezh f
• Bulgarian: мона́рхия (bg) f (monárhija)
• Burmese: မင်း၏အစိုးရခြင်း (mang:ea.cui:ra.hkrang:)
• Catalan: monarquia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 君主制 (zh) (jūnzhǔzhì)

• Czech: monarchie (cs) f
• Danish: monarki (da) n
• Dutch: monarchie (nl) f
• Erzya: вейкинязорчи (vejkińazorči)
• Esperanto: monarkio, monarĥio
• Estonian: monarhia (et)
• Faroese: kongsveldi
• Finnish: monarkia (fi)
• French: monarchie (fr) f
• Galician: monarquía (gl) f
• Georgian: მონარქია (ka) (monarkia)
• German: Monarchie (de) f
• Greek: μοναρχία (el) f (monarchía)

  Ancient: μοναρχία f (monarkhía)

• Hebrew: מונרכיה (he) f
• Hindi: राजतन्त्र m (rājtantra)
• Hungarian: monarchia (hu)
• Icelandic: konungsríki, konungdæmi (is)
• Ido: monarkio (io)
• Indonesian: monarki (id)
• Interlingua: monarchia
• Irish: monarcacht f
• Japanese: 君主制 (くんしゅせい, kunshusei)
• Kazakh: монархия (kk) (monarxiä)
• Khmer: រាជាធិបតេយ្យ (km) (riec a’tʰippa’tay)
• Korean: 군주제 (ko) (gunjuje) (君主制 (ko))
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: монархия (monarhiya)
• Lao: ຣາຊາທິປະໄຕ (rā sā thi pa tai), ລາຊາທິປະໄຕ (lā sā thi pa tai)
• Latvian: monarhija f
• Lithuanian: monarchija (lt) f
• Macedonian: мона́рхија f (monárhija)
• Malay: monarki
• Malayalam: രാജവാഴ്ച (rājavāḻca)
• Marathi: राजेशाही (rājeśāhī)
• Mongolian: эзэн хаант улс (ezen xaant uls)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: monarki (no) n, kongedømme (no) n

  Nynorsk: monarki n

• Persian: سلطنت (fa) (saltanat), پادشاهی (fa) (pâdešâhi, pâdšâhi)
• Polish: monarchia (pl) f
• Portuguese: monarquia (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਬਾਦਸ਼ਾਹੀ (bādśāhī)
• Romanian: monarhie (ro) f
• Russian: мона́рхия (ru) f (monárxija)
• Samogitian: muonarkėjė f
• Scottish Gaelic: monarcachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: монархија f

  Roman: monarhija (sh) f

• Slovak: monarchia f
• Slovene: monarhija (sl) f
• Spanish: monarquía (es) f
• Swedish: monarki (sv) c
• Tagalog: monarkiya
• Tajik: салтанат (saltanat), монархия (monarxiya), хокимияти мутлақа (xokimiyat-i mutlaqa)
• Tamil: முடியாட்சி (ta) (muṭiyāṭci)
• Tatar: монархия (monarxiyä)
• Telugu: రాచరికం (te) (rācarikaṁ)
• Thai: ราชาธิปไตย (raa-chaa-tí-bpà-dtai)
• Turkish: monarşi (tr)
• Ukrainian: мона́рхія f (monárxija)
• Uzbek: monarxiya (uz)
• Vietnamese: quân chủ (vi), chế độ quân chủ, nền quân chủ
• Welsh: archdeyrnieath f
• West Frisian: monargy
• Yiddish: קעניגרייך n (kenigreykh)

See also

• Category:en:Monarchy

Anagrams

• nomarchy

---

Polish

Noun

monarchy

1. genitive singular of monarcha