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)

• Rhymes: (UK) -ɛs

Noun

princess (plural princesses)

1. A female member of a royal family other than a queen, especially a daughter or granddaughter of a monarch. [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.]
   • 2014, Blake Masters, Peter Thiel, Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future:

     Michael Jackson was the king of pop. Britney Spears was the pop princess. Until they weren't.

3. (now archaic) A female ruler or monarch; a queen. [from 15th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     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 (or less commonly a man) who is 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.
10. A Bulgarian open-faced baked sandwich prepared with ground meat.

Usage notes

• 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

• crown princess
• dollar princess
• passenger princess
• pavement princess
• pearly princess
• pillow princess
• Princess Anne (places)
• princess cake
• princess carry
• princess-consort
• princess consort
• princess cut
• princess dress
• princess-feather
• princesshood
• princessian
• princessification
• princessipality
• princessish
• princessless
• princesslike
• princess line
• princessliness
• princessly
• princessness
• princess parts
• princess regent
• princess seam
• princessship
• princess sickness
• princess tree
• princess wand
• princessy
• red princess flower
• unprincesslike
• unprincessly
• unprincessy
• welfare princess

 

Related terms

• princely
• principality

Translations

female member of royal family

• Afrikaans: prinses (af)
• Albanian: princeshë (sq)
• Amharic: ልዕልት (ləʿlət)
• Arabic: أَمِيرَة f (ʔamīra)
• Armenian: արքայադուստր (hy) (arkʻayadustr)
• Assamese: কুঁৱৰী (kũwori)
• Azerbaijani: şahzadə
• Basque: printzesa
• Belarusian: прынцэ́са f (pryncésa), царэ́ўна f (caréŭna) (daughter of a tsar), карале́ўна f (karaljéŭna) (daughter of a king)
• Bengali: রাজকুমারী (bn) (rajkumari)
• Breton: maelle, priñsez (br) f
• Bulgarian: принце́са (bg) f (princésa)
• Burmese: မင်းသမီး (my) (mang:sa.mi:)
• Catalan: princesa (ca)
• Cebuano: prinsesa
• Chichewa: kalonga
• Chinese:

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

• Coptic: ϣⲉⲣⲓⲛ̀ⲟⲩⲣⲱ f (šeriǹourō)
• Corsican: principessa
• 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
• Galician: princesa (gl)
• Georgian: პრინცესა (ṗrincesa)
• German: Prinzessin (de) f, Königstochter (de) f (literally “king's daughter”), Königsenkelin f
• Greek: βασιλοπούλα (el) f (vasilopoúla)
• Gujarati: રાજકુમારી (rājkumārī)
• Haitian Creole: prensès
• Hausa: gimbiya
• Hawaiian: kamāliʻi wahine
• Hebrew: נְסִיכָה (he) f (nesikhá)
• Hiligaynon: dayang
• Hindi: राजकुमारी f (rājkumārī), शहज़ादी (śahzādī), राजकन्या (hi) f (rājkanyā)
• Hungarian: hercegnő (hu)
• Icelandic: prinsessa (is) f
• Igbo: ada eze
• Indonesian: putri (id) f, puteri (id) f
• Interlingua: princessa
• Irish: banfhlaith f, iníon rí f
• Italian: principessa (it) f
• Japanese: 姫 (ja) (ひめ, hime), 王女 (ja) (おうじょ, ōjo), 公主 (ja) (こうしゅ, kōshu)
• Javanese: putri (jv)
• Kabardian: жан (kbd) (žan)
• Kapampangan: lakangbini, pirinsesa
• Kazakh: ханзада (xanzada), ханша (xanşa)
• Khmer: រាជបុត្រី (riəc botrəy), ព្រះនាង (prĕəh niəng)
• Korean: 공주(公主) (ko) (gongju), 왕녀(王女) (ko) (wangnyeo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dotmîr (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: канбийке (kanbiyke), принцесса (printsessa)
• Lao: ເຈົ້າຍິງ (chao nying)
• Latin: filia regis f, regina (la) f
• Latvian: princese f
• Lithuanian: princesė f
• Luxembourgish: prinzessin
• Macedonian: принце́за f (princéza)
• Malagasy: andriambavy (mg)
• Malay: puteri (ms)
• Malayalam: രാജകുമാരി (rājakumāri)
• Maltese: prinċipessa
• Manchu: ᡤᡠᠩᠵᡠ (gungju)
• Maori: pirinihi
• Maranao: liamin
• Marathi: राजकुमारी (rājkumārī)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: гүнж (mn) (günž)

  Mongolian: ᠭᠦ᠋ᠩᠵᠦ (güŋǰü)

• Nahuatl: cīhuapīlli, siuapili (nah)
• Nepali: राजकुमारी (ne) (rājakumārī)
• Norman: prîncêsse f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prinsesse f

• Old Norse: jungfrú f, dróttning f
• Ottoman Turkish: خانم (hanum)
• Pashto: شازادګۍ f (šazādgǝ́y), شازادۍ f (šazādǝ́y), شاهزادګۍ f (šāhzādgǝ́y), شاهزۍ (ps) f (šāhzǝ́y), شهزادګۍ f (šahzādgᶕy), شهزادۍ f (šahzādǝ́y)
• Persian: شاهدخت (fa) (šâhdoxt)
• Polish: księżniczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: princesa (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਰਾਜਕੁਮਾਰੀ (rājkumārī)
• 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)
• Samoan: purinisese
• Scottish Gaelic: bana-phrionnsa f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: принце́за f

  Roman: princéza (sh) f

• Sinhalese: කුමරිය (kumariya)
• Slovak: princezná f
• Slovene: princesa (sl) f
• Somali: amiirad
• Spanish: princesa (es), infanta (es) f
• Sundanese: sang putri, tuan putri, putri raja
• Swahili: mtoto wa kike wa mfalme
• Swedish: prinsessa (sv) c
• Tagalog: lakambini, prinsesa (tl), dayangdayang
• Tajik: шоҳзодахоним (šohzodaxonim), шоҳдухтар (šohduxtar), шоҳдухт (šohduxt)
• Tamil: இளவரசி (ta) (iḷavaraci), அரசகுமாரி (aracakumāri)
• Tatar: принцесса (printsessa)
• Telugu: యువరాణి (te) (yuvarāṇi), ప్రిన్సెస్ (prinses)
• Thai: เจ้าหญิง (th) (jâao-yǐng)
• Tibetan: སྲས་མོ (sras mo)
• Tongan: pilinisesi
• Turkish: prenses (tr) f
• Turkmen: şazada
• 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)
• Uyghur: مەلىكە (melike), خانىكە (xanike)
• Uzbek: malika (uz), prinsessa
• Vietnamese: công chúa (vi) (公主 (vi)), bà chúa (vi)
• Volapük: ledaut (vo), jiplin (vo)
• Walloon: princesse (wa) f
• Welsh: tywysoges (cy)
• West Frisian: prinsesse
• Yiddish: פּרינצעסין f (printsesin), בת־מלכּה f (bas-malke)
• Yoruba: ọmọ alade
• 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)
• Belarusian: княгі́ня f (knjahínja)
• Bulgarian: княги́ня (bg) f (knjagínja)
• Catalan: princesa (ca) f
• Chechen: сту (stu)
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: kněžna (cs) f
• 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
• Ingush: сув (suv)
• Irish: banphrionsa m, banfhlaith m
• Japanese: 王妃 (ja) (おうひ, ōhi), 皇女 (ja) (こうじょ, kōjo)
• Kapampangan: lakangbini, pirinsesa
• Korean: 왕비(王妃) (ko) (wangbi)
• Latin: regina (la) f
• Macedonian: кнегиња f (kneginja)
• 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
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кнѐгиња f

  Roman: knèginja (sh) f

• Slovak: kňažná f
• Slovene: kneginja (sl) f
• Spanish: princesa (es)
• Swedish: furstinna (sv) c
• Tagalog: prinsesa (tl)
• Turkish: prenses (tr) f
• Ukrainian: княги́ня f (knjahýnja)
• Vietnamese: công chúa (vi) (公主 (vi)), công nữ (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) plin (vo), (♂) jiplin (vo)
• Yiddish: פּרינצעסין f (printsesin)

wife of a prince; female ruler of a principality

• Bulgarian: принцеса (bg) f (princesa)
• Finnish: ruhtinatar
• German: Fürstin (de) f
• Hebrew: בַּת לְמֶלֶכַּה f (ḇát̬ ləmélékáh)

term of endearment for young girl

• Finnish: prinsessa (fi)

young girl or woman who is 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. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ancient Greek: ^{(please verify)} βασίλεια f (basíleia)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} princesa (ca) f
• French: ^{(please verify)} princesse (fr) f
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} prinsessa (is) f, (obsolete) ^{(please verify)} prinsipissa f
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} dotmîr (ku) f

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} principissa f
• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} രാജകുമാരി f (rājakumāri)
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} شاهزاده‌خانم (šâhzâde-xânom)
• 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 (te) (rājakumāri), ^{(please verify)} రాకుమారి (te) (rākumāri)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} công chúa (vi) (公主 (vi))

See also

• archduchess
• duchess
• grand duchess
• highness
• royal

Anagrams

• Crespins, crispens