signet

See also: Signet

English

a signet ring

Etymology

From Old French signet (“small seal”), from Medieval Latin signētum, diminutive of Latin signum (“sign”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, Canada, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɡ.nɪt/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• Homophone: cygnet

Noun

signet (plural signets)

1. (historical) An object (especially a ring) formerly used to impress a picture into the sealing wax of a document as a proof of its origin.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     I had my fathers Signet in my Purse, / Which was the Modell of that Danish Seale:

   • 1844, Robert Browning, The Laboratory:

     To carry pure death in an earring, a casket,
     A signet, a fan-mount, a filigree basket!

Derived terms

• signeted
• signet ring

Related terms

• seal
• signal
• signature

Translations

object used to impress a picture into sealing wax

• Bulgarian: личен печат m (ličen pečat)
• Catalan: segell (ca) m
• Esperanto: sigelringo (signet ring)
• Finnish: sinettisormus (ring); sinettileimasin, sinetti (fi) (general)
• German: Signet (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: σφραγίς f (sphragís)

• Polish: sygnet (pl) m
• Portuguese: sinete (pt) m
• Russian: печа́тка (ru) f (pečátka)
• Spanish: sello (es) m
• Swedish: sigill (sv) n
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: خاتم (hatem)

• Ukrainian: печа́тка (pečátka)

See also

• siglum

Further reading

• seal (emblem) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• get-ins, ingest, stinge, tinges

French

Etymology

Old French signet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.ɲɛ/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

signet m (plural signets)

1. bookmark (strip used to mark a place in a book)

   Synonym: marque-page

2. (historical) signet

   Synonym: chevalière

Descendants

• → German: Signet

Further reading

• “signet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• gisent

Latin

Verb

signet

1. third-person singular present active subjunctive of signō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French signet.

Noun

signet n (plural signete)

1. bookmark

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	signet	signetul	signete	signetele
genitive-dative	signet	signetului	signete	signetelor
vocative	signetule		signetelor