princess

See also: princes

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman princess, Middle French princesse, corresponding to prince +‎ -ess.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹɪnˈsɛs/, /ˈpɹɪnsɛs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪnsɛs/, /ˈpɹɪnsɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

princess (plural princesses)

1. A female member of a royal family other than a queen, especially a daughter or granddaughter. [from 14th c.]
   • 1872, George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin

     She did not cry long, however, for she was as brave as could be expected of a princess of her age.

2. A woman or girl who excels in a given field or class. [from 14th c.]
3. (now archaic) A female ruler or monarch; a queen. [from 15th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.12:

     And running all with greedie ioyfulnesse / To faire Irena, at her feet did fall, / And her adored with due humblenesse, / As their true Liege and Princesse naturall [...].

4. The wife of a prince; the female ruler of a principality. [from 15th c.]

   Princess Grace was the Princess of Monaco.

5. A young girl; used as a term of endearment. [from 18th c.]
6. (derogatory, chiefly US) A young girl or woman considered vain, spoiled or selfish; a prima donna. [from 20th c.]

   You're a real princess.

7. A tinted crystal marble used in children's games.
8. A type of court card in the Tarot pack, coming between the 10 and the prince (Jack).
9. A female lemur.

Usage notes

• Possessive forms: princess's (main form used by academics and book publishers) The princess's golden hair.; princess' (main form used by newspapers) The princess' golden hair.
• A princess is usually styled “Her Highness”. A princess in a royal family is “Her Royal Highness”; in an imperial family “Her Imperial Highness”.

Coordinate terms

• prince

Derived terms

terms derived from princess

crown princess pavement princess pearly princess princess cut princessification princessipality princessless

princesslike princessliness princessly princess seam princessy unprincesslike

Related terms

• princely
• principality

Translations

female member of royal family

• Afrikaans: prinses
• Arabic: أميرة f ('amiira)
• Armenian: արքայադուստր (arkʿayadustr)
• Basque: printzesa
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 公主 (zh) (gōngzhǔ), 王妃 (zh) (wángfēi)

• Czech: princezna (cs) f
• Danish: prinsesse (da)
• Dutch: prinses (nl) f
• Esperanto: reĝidino
• Estonian: printsess
• Faroese: kongsdóttir f, kongadóttir f, prinsessa f
• Finnish: prinsessa (fi)
• Georgian: პრინცესა (princ’esa)
• German: Prinzessin (de) f
• Greek: βασιλοπούλα (el) f (vasilopoúla)
• Hawaiian: kamāliʻi wahine
• Hebrew: נסיכה (he) f (nesikhá)
• Hungarian: hercegnő (hu)
• Indonesian: putri (id) f, puteri (id) f
• Irish: banphrionsa m, iníon rí f
• Italian: principessa (it) f

• Japanese: 姫 (ja) (ひめ, hime), 王女 (おうじょ, ōjo), プリンセス (purinsesu)
• Jèrriais: prîncêsse f
• Korean: 공주 (ko) (gongju) (公主 (ko))
• Latin: filia regis f
• Malay: puteri
• Nahuatl: cīhuapīlli, siuapili (nah)
• Persian: شاهدخت (fa) (šâhdoxt)
• Polish: księżniczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: princesa (pt) f
• Romanian: prințesă (ro) f
• Russian: принцесса (ru) f (princéssa), царевна (ru) f (carévna) (daughter of a tsar), королевна (ru) f (korolévna) (daughter of a king)
• Scottish Gaelic: bana-phrionnsa f
• Slovak: princezná f
• Slovene: princesa (sl) f
• Spanish: princesa (es), infanta (es) f
• Swedish: prinsessa (sv) c
• Tibetan: སྲས་མོ (sras mo)
• Turkish: prenses (tr) f
• Volapük: ledaut (vo)
• Walloon: princesse (wa) f
• Zulu: inkosazana class 9/6

female monarch, or wife of a ruler

• Afrikaans: koningin (af) f
• Armenian: իշխանուհի (išxanuhi)
• Catalan: princesa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 公主 (zh) (gōngzhǔ), 王妃 (zh) (wángfēi)

• Dutch: koningin (nl) f, prinses (nl) f
• Esperanto: princino
• Finnish: ruhtinatar
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Fürstin f
• Greek: πριγκίπισσα (el) f (prigkípissa)
• Hebrew: נסיכה (he) f (nesikhá)
• Hungarian: fejedelemasszony (hu)
• Indonesian: ratu (id) f
• Irish: banphrionsa m, banfhlaith m

• Japanese: 王妃 (ja) (おうひ, ōhi), プリンセス (purinsesu)
• Jèrriais: prîncêsse f
• Nahuatl: cīhuatlahtoāni, siuatlajtoani
• Polish: księżna (pl) f
• Portuguese: rainha (pt) f
• Russian: княгиня (ru) f (knjagínja), принцесса (ru) f (princéssa)
• Scottish Gaelic: bana-phrionnsa f
• Slovene: kneginja (sl) f
• Spanish: princesa (es)
• Swedish: furstinna (sv) c
• Tagalog: prinsesa (tl)
• Turkish: prenses (tr) f
• Vietnamese: công chúa (vi), công nữ
• Volapük: (♂♀) plin (vo), (♂) jiplin

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ancient Greek: βασίλεια f (basileia)
• Catalan: princesa f
• Serbo-Croatian: princeza f
• French: princesse (fr) f
• Hebrew: נסיכה (he) f (nesiha)
• Icelandic: prinsessa (is) f, (obsolete) prinsipissa f
• Japanese: プリンセス (purinsesu)

• Korean: 공주 (ko) (gongju)
• Kurdish: dotmîr (ku) f
• Latin: principissa f
• Malayalam: രാജകുമാരി f (raajakumaari)
• Novial: prinsa
• Persian: شاهزاده‌خانم (shâhzâde-xânum)
• Portuguese: princesa (pt) f
• Spanish: princesa (es) f, infanta (es) f
• Tamil: குமாரத்தி (ta) (kumārtti), இராசகுமாரி (irāckumāri)
• Telugu: రాజకుమారి (rAjakumAri), రాకుమారి (te) (rAkumAri)
• Vietnamese: công chúa (vi)

See also

• archduchess
• duchess
• grand duchess
• highness
• royal

Anagrams

• crispens