Etymologically
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king

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kɪŋ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English king, inherited from Old English cyning, later contracted to cyng,[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz.[2][4] Its cognates include Old Frisian kening, Old Saxon kuning, Dutch koning, German König and Old Norse konungr.[3][5] It is probably formed from the base of kin and the suffix -ing,[5][4][6] as “scion of the (noble) race”[4] or “leader of the people”,[2] but the exact relation to kin is undetermined.[2] Gothic used þiudans instead, cognate with Old English þēoden (“chief, prince”).[2] Finnish kuningas and Old Church Slavonic kŭnędzĭ “prince” are early borrowings from Germanic.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The male sovereign ruler of a state: Old English cyning, recorded before 725,[3] with the title before a personal name from 836.[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word was used of the chiefs of Anglian and Saxon tribes and of the British and Danish chiefs they fought, and it took on a more imposing quality with the rise of European nation-states.[2] One with supremacy in a certain field is from the late 14th century, as in Gower's “the lion is king of beasts” in 1390.[2] The playing card is from 1563,[9] and the crowned piece in draughts from 1677.[9] As a modifier for large or dominant species, king is used in king crab (1690s), king snake (1737) and king cobra (1888), and king-size is from 1939, first of cigarettes.[2] The verb “to rule as king” is from about 1420.[8]

Timeline

  • before 725 – Old English cyning.[3]
  • 836 – as a title before a name.[8]
  • late 14th century – one supreme in a field.[2]
  • c. 1420 – verb, to act the king.[8]
  • 1563 – the playing card.[9]
  • 1677 – a crowned piece in draughts.[9]
  • 1939 – king-size.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A male sovereign or monarch.
  2. The most powerful or important person or thing in a group or field.
  3. (often King) God or Christ.
  4. A playing card bearing the figure of a king.
  5. The principal piece in chess.
  6. A piece in draughts that has reached the far row and been crowned.

Adjective

  1. Chief or principal, especially in size.

Verb

  1. To make into a king; to crown a draughts piece.

Word family

  • kingless
  • kinglessness
  • kinglike
  • god-king
  • kingbolt
  • kingcraft
  • kingcup
  • kingdom

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)