princess
Pluralprincesses
- 1A woman or girl of a royal house other than the queen, typically a monarch's daughter or granddaughter.
The princess opened the new hospital wing on her father's behalf.
Each princess in the royal household carries out her own ceremonial duties.
Note
This is the royal sense the others grow from. English took it in Middle English as princesse, from Anglo-Norman and Old French, and it still reads as prince plus the feminine -ess. The plural is princesses. Fairy tale uses the word this way too: George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin (1872) calls its heroine as brave as could be expected of a princess of her age.
- 2A young girl, used as an affectionate term of endearment.
You did so well in the recital, princess, I'm proud of you.
Hop in the car, princess, we're going to get ice cream.
Similarsweetheart, sweetie, darling, honey
- 3A vain, spoiled, or selfish girl or woman (or, less often, a man); a prima donna.
My brother is such a princess about his morning coffee routine.
The new hire turned out to be a princess who expected everyone to wait on her.
Similardiva
Note
An American put-down borrows the fairy-tale picture of someone used to being waited on. It is derogatory, though in banter it can sound half-fond, and it can be aimed at men. In a 2020 video, Justmaiko calls a friend named Jonathan a beautiful princess and a big, fat dork in one breath. Tone and context separate it from the affectionate name for a girl.
- 4A woman married to a prince, or a woman who governs a principality as its ruler.
After the wedding, she was styled princess and took up residence at court.
The principality has been governed by a princess since her father's abdication.
- 5A woman or girl regarded as the outstanding figure in a particular field or group.
Within a decade she became the reigning princess of competitive figure skating.
The young chef was hailed as the princess of the city's restaurant scene.
Note
Praise borrowed from royalty usually comes with a field attached, either before the noun (pop princess) or after of (the princess of figure skating). It works as the feminine counterpart of king of. Blake Masters and Peter Thiel's Zero to One (2014) sets the two side by side, with Michael Jackson as the king of pop and Britney Spears as the pop princess.
- 6A court card in the Tarot pack, ranking between the ten and the prince (the Jack).
He turned over the princess of wands and paused to interpret it.
Each suit in the deck includes a princess between the ten and the prince.
- 7In fairy chess, a piece that can move either as a bishop or as a knight.
The composer placed a princess on e4, threatening mate from two directions at once.
A princess controls the diagonals and can also leap like a knight, making it strong in the endgame.
Note
A compound piece from fairy chess, the world of variants and composed problems that use invented pieces. It slides diagonally like a bishop and leaps like a knight, and the leap matters. A bishop stays on one color of square for the whole game, but the knight's move lets the princess reach squares of both colors.
- 8A children's playing marble made of tinted crystal.
The boy traded his best aggie for a glowing princess.
A handful of princesses gleamed in the sunlight on the sidewalk.
- 9An open-faced Bulgarian sandwich topped with ground meat and baked in the oven.
The bakery sells warm princesses topped with spiced ground meat.
She ordered a princess with extra cheese at the corner cafe.
- 10A female lemur.
The princess led the troop to the fruiting trees at dawn.
In many lemur species, a princess outranks the males in the group.
Less common meaning
- 11A woman who reigns over a realm as its monarch; a queen.
The aging princess summoned her lords to swear allegiance to the crown.
Under the great princess, the realm enjoyed decades of peace.
Note
In older English the title carried no hint of junior rank. Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1596) has subjects fall at Irena's feet as their "true Liege and Princesse naturall", their ruler by right. Readers now meet this use only in older texts. In modern prose it would be taken as a monarch's daughter, so write queen when you mean the woman who reigns.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English "princesse", borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French "princesse"; by surface analysis it is "prince" plus the feminine suffix "-ess".