princess

See also: Princess

English

Etymology

From Middle English princesse, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman princesse, Old 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.]
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) 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 Anne (places)
• princess cut
• princess dress
• princessification
• princessipality
• princessless

• princesslike
• princess line
• princessliness
• princessly
• princess seam
• princessy
• unprincesslike

Related terms

• princely
• principality

Translations

female member of royal family

• Afrikaans: prinses
• Arabic: أَمِيرَة‎‎ f (ʾamīra)
• Armenian: արքայադուստր (hy) (arkʿayadustr)
• Azerbaijani: şahzadə
• Basque: printzesa
• Belarusian: прынцэ́са f (pryncésa), царэ́ўна f (caréŭna) (daughter of a tsar), карале́ўна f (karaljéŭna) (daughter of a king)
• Bengali: রাজকুমারী (rajkumari)
• Breton: maelle, priñsez (br) f
• Bulgarian: принце́са (bg) f (princésa)
• Burmese: မင်းသမီး (my) (mang:sa.mi:)
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: princezna (cs) f
• Danish: prinsesse (da)
• Dutch: prinses (nl) f
• Esperanto: reĝidino, princino
• Estonian: printsess
• Faroese: kongsdóttir f, kongadóttir f, prinsessa f
• Finnish: prinsessa (fi)
• French: princesse (fr) f
• Georgian: პრინცესა (ṗrincesa)
• German: Prinzessin (de) f, Königstochter (de) f, Königsenkelin f
• Greek: βασιλοπούλα (el) f (vasilopoúla)
• Hausa: gimbiya
• Hawaiian: kamāliʻi wahine
• Hebrew: נְסִיכָה‎‎ (he) f (nesikhá)
• Hindi: राजकुमारी f (rājkumārī), शहज़दी (śahzadī), राजकन्या (hi) f (rājkanyā)
• Hungarian: hercegnő (hu)
• Icelandic: prinsessa (is) f
• Indonesian: putri (id) f, puteri (id) f
• Interlingua: princessa
• Irish: flaith f, iníon rí f
• Italian: principessa (it) f
• Japanese: 姫 (ja) (ひめ, hime), 王女 (ja) (おうじょ, ōjo), プリンセス (purinsesu), 公主 (ja) (こうしゅ, kōshu)
• Kazakh: ханзада (xanzada), ханша (xanşa)
• Khmer: ព្រះនាង (preah nieŋ), រាជបុត្រី (riec bo’trəy)
• Korean: 공주 (ko) (gongju) (公主 (ko))
• Kurdish: dotmîr (ku) f

• Lao: ເຈົ້າຍິງ (chao nying)
• Latin: filia regis f, regina (la) f
• Latvian: princese f
• Lithuanian: princesė f
• Macedonian: принцеза f (princeza)
• Malay: puteri
• Maranao: liamin
• Nahuatl: cīhuapīlli, siuapili (nah)
• Norman: prîncêsse f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prinsesse f

• Ottoman Turkish: خانم‎‎ (hanum)
• Persian: شاهدخت‎‎ (fa) (šâhdoxt)
• Polish: księżniczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: princesa (pt) f
• Quechua: ñust'a
• Romanian: prințesă (ro) f
• Russian: принце́сса (ru) f (princéssa), царе́вна (ru) f (carévna) (daughter of a tsar), короле́вна (ru) f (korolévna) (daughter of a king)
• Scottish Gaelic: bana-phrionnsa f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: принцеза f

  Roman: princeza (sh) f

• Slovak: princezná f
• Slovene: princesa (sl) f
• Spanish: princesa (es), infanta (es) f
• Swedish: prinsessa (sv) c
• Tagalog: lakambini, prinsesa (tl), dayangdayang
• Thai: เจ้าหญิง (jâao-yǐng)
• Tibetan: སྲས་མོ (sras mo)
• Turkish: prenses (tr) f
• Ukrainian: принце́са f (pryncésa), царі́вна (uk) f (carívna) (daughter of a tsar), королі́вна (uk) f (korolívna) (daughter of a king)
• Urdu: شہزدی‎‎ f (śahzadī), راجکماری‎‎ f (rājkumārī)
• Vietnamese: công chúa (vi), bà chúa
• Volapük: ledaut (vo), jiplin (vo)
• Walloon: princesse (wa) f
• Yiddish: פּרינצעסין‎‎ f (printsesin), בת־מלכּה‎‎ f (bas-malke)
• Zulu: inkosazana class 9/6

woman or girl who excels in a given field or class

female monarch, or wife of a ruler

• Afrikaans: koningin (af) f
• Armenian: իշխանուհի (hy) (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; kuningatar (fi) (queen)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Fürstin (de) f
• Greek: πριγκίπισσα (el) f (prigkípissa)
• Hebrew: נְסִיכָה‎‎ (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)

• Latin: regina (la) f
• Nahuatl: cīhuatlahtoāni, siuatlajtoani
• Norman: prîncêsse f
• Polish: księżna (pl) f
• Portuguese: rainha (pt) f
• Russian: княги́ня (ru) f (knjagínja), принце́сса (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 (vo)
• Yiddish: פּרינצעסין‎‎ f (printsesin)

wife of a prince; female ruler of a principality

• Finnish: ruhtinatar

term of endearment for young girl

• Finnish: prinsessa (fi)

young girl or woman considered vain, prima donna

• Finnish: prinsessa (fi)

tinted crystal marble

Tarot card

• Finnish: prinsessa (fi)

female lemur

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ancient Greek: ^{(please verify)} βασίλεια f (basíleia)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} princesa f
• French: ^{(please verify)} princesse (fr) f
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} prinsessa (is) f, (obsolete) ^{(please verify)} prinsipissa f
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 공주 (ko) (gongju)
• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} dotmîr (ku) f
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} principissa f
• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} രാജകുമാരി f (rājakumāri)

• Novial: ^{(please verify)} prinsa
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} شاهزاده‌خانم‎‎ (shâhzâde-xânum)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} princeza (sh) f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} princesa (es) f, ^{(please verify)} infanta (es) f
• Tamil: ^{(please verify)} குமாரத்தி (ta) (kumāratti), ^{(please verify)} இராசகுமாரி (irācakumāri)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} రాజకుమారి (rājakumāri), ^{(please verify)} రాకుమారి (te) (rākumāri)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} công chúa (vi)

See also

• archduchess
• duchess
• grand duchess
• highness
• royal

Anagrams

• Crespins, crispens