queen English · revision 2794

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725|origins=ine-pro *gʷén}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kwiːn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|quene]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|cwēn|t=queen, female ruler; woman; wife]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*kwēniz|alt=*kwoeniz]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) an ablaut variant of *kwenōn, the source of [[quean]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*gʷén|alt=*gwen-|t=woman]].^(Etymonline) It is cognate with Old Saxon quān “wife”, Old Norse kvæn and Gothic qēns,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) and outside Germanic with Old Irish ben “woman”, Greek gunḗ, Armenian kin and Sanskrit jáni “wife”.^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The wife of a king: before 725 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988) The OED's first examples, a king's consort and a woman ruling a state in her own right, are from about 825–893.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The most ancient Germanic sense seems to have been “wife”, which had specialized by Old English times to “wife of a king”;^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) in Old Norse the word still mostly meant a wife.^(Etymonline) English is one of the few Indo-European languages whose word for queen is not a feminine derivative of the word for king.^(Etymonline) Anything personified as chief and female is a queen from late Old English,^(Etymonline) and a woman pre-eminent in some sphere by the 1590s.^(Etymonline) The chess piece is so called from about 1400,^(Etymonline) and the playing card and the fertile female of bees and ants are also queens.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) ''Queen mother'' is by the 1570s.^(Etymonline) The slang sense, an obviously homosexual man, is recorded from 1924.^(Dalzell 2013) Old English cwene “woman” became the archaic [[quean]], “a bold or impudent woman”, also used for a prostitute in the 16th and 17th centuries;^(Cresswell 2021)^(AHD 2000) when the two words came to sound alike, the derogatory one fell out of use as too confusing.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 725 – a king's wife.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 825 – a female sovereign.^(OED 1989)

+ * late Old English – something personified as chief.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1400 – the chess piece.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1570s – ''queen mother''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1590s – a pre-eminent woman.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1611 – verb, ''queen it''.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1924 – a homosexual man (slang).^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A woman who rules a country in her own right; a female [[sovereign]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The wife or widow of a [[king]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A woman or thing pre-eminent in some field: ''the queen of crime fiction''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # The most powerful piece in [[chess]]; a playing card bearing a queen's picture.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # The fertile female of [[bee|alt=bees]], ants or termites.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(slang, often offensive)'' A homosexual man, especially an effeminate one.^(AHD)^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make a woman queen; in chess, to promote a [[pawn]] to a queen.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''queen it'': To behave like a queen; to act haughtily.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[queenless]]

+ * [[queenlike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[quean]]

+ * [[gynecology]]

+ * [[banshee]]

+ * [[zenana]]

+ * [[queenly]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}