queen

English Online Dictionary. What means queen‎? What does queen mean?

English

Alternative forms

• queene, quene, queyne (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English quene, queen, cwen, from Old English cwēn (“queen”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni, from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷénh₂s (“woman”).

Cognate with Scots queen, wheen (“queen”), Old Saxon quān ("wife"; > Middle Low German quene (“elderly woman”)), Dutch kween (“woman past child-bearing age”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Norwegian kvinne (“woman”), Danish kvinde (“woman”), Icelandic kvon (“wife”), Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”), Norwegian dialectal kvån (“wife”). Related to and possibly merged with and/or absorbed some senses of English quean, from Middle English quene, from Old English cwene (“woman; female serf, quean”), see quean. Generally eclipsed non-native Middle English regina (“queen”), borrowed from Latin rēgīna (“queen”) (see Modern English regina). Doublet of quean and gyne.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kwēn, IPA^(key): /kwiːn/, [kʰw̥iːn]
• Rhymes: -iːn
• Homophone: quean

Noun

queen (plural queens)

2. The wife, consort, or widow of a king.

   Synonyms: queen consort, Regina

   Hypernym: royal

   Hyponyms: queen consort, queen dowager

   Holonym: royal family

   Coordinate terms: emperor, empress, king, prince, princess
4. A female monarch.

   Synonyms: queen regnant, Regina

   Hypernyms: monarch, royal, sovereign

   Holonym: royal family

   Coordinate terms: emperor, empress, king, prince, princess
6. A woman whose pre-eminence, power, or forcefulness is comparable to that of a queen.

   Synonym: goddess

   2. (Christianity) The Virgin Mary (especially in formulations such as Queen of Heaven, Queen of Glory).

      Synonyms: (archaic) advocatrix, Blessed Virgin, Blessed Virgin Mary, (chiefly historical) Christotokos, lady, Madonna, Mother of God, Mother of Mercy, Our Lady, Our Lady of Sorrows, Queen of Heaven, Saint Mary, Star of the Sea, (chiefly Eastern Christianity) Theotokos, Virgin Mary
   4. An excellent woman.
   6. A woman pre-eminent in a particular group or field.
   8. (slang, originally US) An attractive woman; a female partner in a romantic relationship.

      Synonym: honey
8. Something regarded as the greatest of its kind or as having pre-eminence or power comparable to that of a queen over a given area.
10. Referring to one of several items used in tabletop games:
    2. (chess) A chess piece that, under contemporary rules, is the most powerful, able to move any number of spaces horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

       Synonyms: (slang, vulgar, offensive) bitch, (slang) dame, (slang, rare) lady, (slang) old lady, (slang, vulgar, offensive) whore

       Hypernyms: chess piece, chessman

       Holonym: chess set

       Coordinate terms: bishop, castle, king, knight, pawn, rook
    4. (card games) A playing card with a depiction of a queen on it, generally ranking next below the king and above the jack in a given suit.

       Synonyms: (slang, vulgar, offensive) bitch, (slang) cowgirl, (slang) girl, (slang) lady, (slang, vulgar, offensive) mop squeezer

       Hypernyms: court card, face card

       Hyponym: Queen Bess

       Holonyms: deck of cards, pack of cards

       Coordinate terms: jack, king, knave
    6. A red disk that is the most valuable piece in the Asian game of carrom.
12. A reproductive female insect in a hive, such as an ant, bee, termite or wasp.

    Synonym: (obsolete) king

    Hypernyms: bug, insect

    Hyponym: queen bee
13. (obsolete) A type of flatfish, specifically the lemon sole.
15. (rare) A queen apple.

    Hypernym: apple

17. (originally UK) A queen scallop.
19. (construction, obsolete) Ellipsis of queen post.

    Coordinate term: king
20. (now chiefly historical) A type of large roofing slate.
22. (LGBTQ slang, sometimes derogatory) A homosexual man, especially one regarded as effeminate.

    Synonyms: fag, faggot, fairy, fruit, Mary, nancy, Nancy Dawson, nancyboy, nelly, pansy, ponce, poof, poofter, shirtlifter, twink; see also Thesaurus:effeminate man, Thesaurus:male homosexual

    Hypernym: gay
24. An adult female cat capable of breeding.

    Hypernym: cat

    Coordinate terms: tom, tomcat
26. Ellipsis of queen olive.
28. (LGBTQ, slang) Ellipsis of drag queen.
30. (attributive, originally Canada, US) Pertaining to a queen-size bed or queen-size bedding.

    Synonyms: queen-size, queen-sized
32. A monarch butterfly (Danaus spp., especially Danaus gilippus).

Usage notes

• (homosexual man): The term can be either derogatory or a self-identification. (Compare nigger.)
• (ellipsis of drag queen): Some of the people who were historically (in the late 1960s and 1970s) described as “queens” or “drag queens” or “street queens” are now sometimes considered transgender, especially when their gender identity is female or non-binary/genderqueer rather than male. Some people, like Sylvia Rivera, self-identified as both a “transgender person” and a “street queen”. Drag queens, too, can have any gender identity.

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

Verb

queen (third-person singular simple present queens, present participle queening, simple past and past participle queened)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To act the part of a queen; to behave imperiously; to queen it.
2. (transitive) To make a queen or (figuratively) to give the status of a queen.
3. (chess) To promote a pawn to a queen.
4. (beekeeping) To be the queen bee of a colony.
5. (beekeeping) To provide with a new queen bee.

   Antonym: dequeen
6. (BDSM, slang, transitive, usually of a woman) To sit on a person’s face to receive oral sex, typically while straddling the person’s head.

   Synonyms: face-sit, king

Derived terms

Related terms

• queen out

Translations

See also

• facesitting
• smothering

References

• Kent Patterson (1971) “Checkschmuck! The Slang of the Chess Player”, in American Speech, volume 46, numbers 3–4, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 231–236.
• “queen, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
• “queen”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “queen n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

• quene

Middle English

Noun

queen

1. Alternative form of quene (“queen”)

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English quene, from Old English cwēn, from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwiːn/

Noun

queen

1. queen

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 96