negus

See also: Negus, neĝus, and négus

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈniːɡəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Named after Colonel Francis Negus (1670–1732), its creator.

Noun

negus (countable and uncountable, plural neguses)

1. A drink made of wine, often port, mixed with hot water, oranges or lemons, spices and sugar.
   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 219:

     And when he got home he had a glass of hot negus in his wife's sitting-room, and read the last number of the “Little Dorrit” of the day with great inward satisfaction.

   • 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, chapter VII, in A House is Built, section VI:

     Esther began […] to cry. But when the fire had been lit specially to warm her chilled limbs and Adela had plied her with hot negus she began to feel rather a heroine.

   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 258:

     ‘I could sure use a cup of negus and maybe some hot soup,’ he sniffs.

Translations

drink made of wine mixed with hot water, oranges or lemons, etc.

• Bulgarian: греяно вино n (grejano vino)
• German: Negus (de) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: negus m

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

Proto-Semitic

Ge'ez ነግሠ (nägśä)

Ge'ez ንጉሥ (nəguś)lbor.

Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś)bor.

English negus

Fitst use appears c. the 1590s, borrowed from Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king, ruler”), itself a loan from Ge'ez ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king, ruler”), from the verb ነግሠ (nägśä, “rule”).

Noun

negus (plural neguses)

1. (historical) A ruler of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), or of a province of Ethiopia; specifically, the king of Ethiopia before 1974.
   • 1614 Samuel Purchas, Purchas his pilgrimes. part 2 In fiue bookes, Chap. V. The Voyage of Sir FRANCIS ALVAREZ, a Portugall Priest, made vnto the Court of PRETE IANNI, the great Christian Emperour of Ethiopia, §. XVII. (p. 1102)

     Sir, the Negus of Ethiopia is here in person; and this is the day of our death, doe what you can to saue your selfe, for my part I meane here to die

   • 1739, John Campbell, The Travels and Adventures of Edward Brown, page 292:

     In the Abyssinian Language a King is call'd Negus. Their Monarch they stile Negus Negasta, which is as much as to say, King of Kings.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 240:

     It was a Syrian merchant, Frumentius, who is credited with converting Ezana, the Negus (king or emperor) of the powerful northern Ethiopian state of Aksum.

Translations

king of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

• Amharic: ንጉሥ m (nəguś)
• Arabic: نَجَاشِيّ (ar) m (najāšiyy)
• Bengali: নাজাশি (najaśi)
• Bulgarian: негус m (negus)
• Esperanto: neguso
• French: négus (fr) m, négous (fr) m
• Ge'ez: ንጉሥ (nəguś)
• Georgian: ნეგუსი (negusi)
• German: Negus (de) m
• Hindi: नजाशी (najāśī)
• Hungarian: négus (hu)
• Italian: negus m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: negus m

• Persian: نجاشی (fa) (najâši)
• Polish: negus (pl) m
• Portuguese: negus (pt) m
• Romanian: negus (ro) m
• Russian: не́гус (ru) m (négus)
• Spanish: negus m
• Tigrinya: ንጉስ (nəgus)
• Venetan: nègus

Anagrams

• genus

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛ.ɡus/
• Rhymes: -ɛɡus
• Hyphenation: nè‧gus

Noun

negus m (invariable)

1. (historical) title of the highest grade in the hierarchy of the Ethiopian Empire; Negus

Derived terms

• negussita

See also

• ras

Anagrams

• sugne

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Semitic

Ge'ez ነግሠ (nägśä)

Ge'ez ንጉሥ (nəguś)lbor.

Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś)bor.

Polish negus

Borrowed from Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛ.ɡus/
• Rhymes: -ɛɡus
• Syllabification: ne‧gus

Noun

negus m pers

1. (historical) negus (supreme Ethiopian ruler)

Declension

Declension of negus

	singular	plural
nominative	negus	negusowie/negusi
genitive	negusa	negusów
dative	negusowi	negusom
accusative	negusa	negusów
instrumental	negusem	negusami
locative	negusie	negusach
vocative	negusie	negusowie/negusi

Further reading

• “negus”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[1] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Semitic

Ge'ez ነግሠ (nägśä)

Ge'ez ንጉሥ (nəguś)lbor.

Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś)bor.

Portuguese negus

Borrowed from Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king”).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛ.ɡus/

Noun

negus m (plural neguses)

1. (historical) Negus (supreme Ethiopian ruler)

Further reading

• “negus”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “negus”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Semitic

Ge'ez ነግሠ (nägśä)

Ge'ez ንጉሥ (nəguś)lbor.

Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś)bor.

French négusbor.

Romanian negus

Borrowed from French négus.

Noun

negus m (plural neguși)

1. negus (ruler of Abyssinia)

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	negus	negusul	neguși	negușii
genitive-dative	negus	negusului	neguși	negușilor
vocative	negusule		negușilor

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Semitic

Ge'ez ነግሠ (nägśä)

Ge'ez ንጉሥ (nəguś)lbor.

Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś)bor.

Spanish negus

Borrowed from Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king”).

Noun

negus m (plural neguses)

1. (historical) Negus (supreme Ethiopian ruler)

Further reading

• “negus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025