empress

See also: Empress

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English emperice, emperesse, from Anglo-Norman and Old French empereriz, from Latin imperatrix, equivalent to emperor +‎ -ess. Doublet of imperatrix. Compare modern French impératrice.

Alternative forms

• emperess, empresse (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛmpɹəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

empress (plural empresses)

1. The female monarch (ruler) of an empire.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

     Sit downe by her: adorned with my Crowne,
     As if thou wert the Empreſſe of the world.

2. The wife or widow of an emperor or equated ruler.
   • 2008, Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation‎^[1], page 211:

     Empress, imperial regent, and even emperor herself (r. 797–802), Irene was an important and powerful figure at the Byzantine court in the late eighth and early ninth century.

3. (tarot) The third trump or major arcana card of most tarot decks.
4. (rare) A female chimpanzee.
5. A deciduous tree, Paulownia tomentosa

Derived terms

• empress cloth
• empress dowager
• empress regnant
• empress tree

 

Translations

female monarch of an empire

• Albanian: perandoreshë (sq) f
• Arabic: إِمْبِرَاطُورَة f (ʔimbirāṭūra), مَلِكَة f (malika), قَيْصَرَة f (qayṣara)
• Armenian: կայսրուհի (hy) (kaysruhi)
• Aromanian: amirãroanji f
• Azerbaijani: imperatriçə
• Belarusian: імператры́ца f (impjeratrýca), цары́ца f (carýca)
• Bengali: সম্রাজ্ঞী (bn) (śomrajni)
• Bulgarian: императри́ца f (imperatríca), цари́ца (bg) f (caríca)
• Burmese: ဧကရီ (my) (eka.ri)
• Catalan: emperadriu (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 女皇 (zh) (nǚhuáng)

• Czech: císařovna (cs) f
• Danish: kejserinde (da) c
• Dutch: keizerin (nl) f
• Esperanto: imperiestrino
• Estonian: keisrinna
• Finnish: keisarinna (fi); šaahitar (female shah)
• French: impératrice (fr) f
• Galician: emperatriz f
• Georgian: დედოფალი (ka) (dedopali)
• German: Kaiserin (de) f
• Greek: αυτοκράτειρα (el) f (aftokráteira)
• Gujarati: સમ્રાજ્ઞી (samrājñī)
• Hebrew: קיסרית f (qeysarit)
• Hindi: महारानी f (mahārānī), साम्राज्ञी f (sāmrājñī), मलिका (hi) f (malikā), सुल्ताना f (sultānā) (Muslim)
• Hungarian: császárnő (hu)
• Icelandic: keisaraynja f
• Indonesian: maharani (id), maharatu
• Irish: banimpire m
• Italian: imperatrice (it) f
• Japanese: 女帝 (ja) (じょてい, jotei), 女皇 (じょこう, jokō)
• Kazakh: патшайым (patşaiym), патшаханым (patşaxanym), император әйел (imperator äiel)
• Khmer: អធិរាជិនី (km) (ʼaʼthiriəcinii), រាជិនី (km) (riəcinii)
• Korean: 여제(女帝) (yeoje), 녀제(女帝) (nyeoje) (North Korea), 여황(女皇) (yeohwang), 녀황(女皇) (nyeohwang) (North Korea)
• Kyrgyz: императрица (imperatritsa), император аял (imperator ayal), ханыша (ky) (hanışa)
• Lao: ຈັກກະພັດດິນິ (chak ka phat di ni), ລາຊິນີ (lā si nī)
• Latin: imperātrīx f
• Latvian: imperatore f, ķeizariene f
• Lithuanian: imperatorė f
• Macedonian: царица f (carica), императорка f (imperatorka)
• Malay: maharani, permaisuri
• Manx: ard-venrein f
• Middle English: emperice
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: keiserinne (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: keisarinne f

• Old English: cāseren f
• Pashto: امپراتوره f (amparātoāra)
• Persian: امپراتریس (fa) (emperâtris), ملکه (fa) (maleke)
• Polish: cesarzowa (pl) f, imperatorowa f
• Portuguese: imperatriz (pt) f, imperadora (pt) f
• Romanian: împărăteasă (ro) f
• Russian: императри́ца (ru) f (imperatríca), цари́ца (ru) f (caríca)
• Scottish Gaelic: ban-ìmpire f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: импѐра̄торица f, ца̏рица f

  Roman: impèrātorica (sh) f, cȁrica (sh) f

• Slovak: cisárovná (sk) f
• Slovene: cesarica (sl) f
• Spanish: emperatriz (es) f
• Swedish: kejsarinna (sv) c
• Tajik: малика (tg) (malika)
• Telugu: చక్రవర్తిని (te) (cakravartini)
• Thai: จักรพรรดินี (jàk-grà-pát-dì-nii), ราชินี (th) (raa-chí-nii)
• Turkish: imparatoriçe (tr) f
• Ukrainian: імператри́ця f (imperatrýcja), цари́ця (uk) f (carýcja)
• Urdu: مہارانی f (mahārānī), ملکہ (ur) f (malikā), سلطانہ f (sultānā)
• Uyghur: ئايال پادىشاھ (ayal padishah)
• Uzbek: imperator xotini, imperator ayol, malika (uz)
• Vietnamese: hoàng hậu (vi), nữ hoàng (vi)
• Vilamovian: kazeryn f
• Welsh: ymerodres f
• West Frisian: keizerinne c

wife or widow of an emperor

• Arabic: إِمْبْرَاطُورَة f (ʔimbrāṭūra), زَوْجَةْ إِمِبْرَاطُور f (zawjat ʔimibrāṭūr)
• Armenian: կայսրուհի (hy) (kaysruhi)
• Bengali: সম্রাজ্ঞী (bn) (śomrajni)
• Catalan: emperadriu (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 皇后 (zh) (huánghòu), 王后 (zh) (wánghòu)

• Czech: císařovna (cs) f
• Danish: kejserinde (da) c, enkekejserinde c (widow of an emperor)
• Dutch: keizerin (nl) f
• Esperanto: imperiestrino
• Finnish: keisarinna (fi); šaahitar (wife or widow of a shah)
• German: Kaiserin (de) f
• Greek: αυτοκράτειρα (el) f (aftokráteira)
• Hungarian: császárné (hu)
• Irish: banimpire m
• Italian: imperatrice (it) f
• Japanese: 皇后 (ja) (こうごう, kōgō), 王后 (ja) (おうこう, ōkō)
• Kazakh: император әйел (imperator äiel)
• Khmer: អធិរាជិនី (km) (ʼaʼthiriəcinii)
• Korean: 황후(皇后) (ko) (hwanghu), 왕후(王后) (ko) (wanghu)
• Latin: imperatrix f
• Latvian: imperatrise f, ķeizariene f
• Lithuanian: imperatorienė f
• Macedonian: царица f (carica), императорка f (imperatorka)
• Malay: maharani
• Manx: ard-venrein f
• Middle English: emperice
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: keiserinne (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: keisarinne f

• Old English: cāseren f
• Portuguese: imperatriz (pt) f
• Romanian: împărăteasă (ro) f
• Russian: императри́ца (ru) f (imperatríca)
• Scottish Gaelic: ban-ìmpire f
• Slovene: cesarica (sl) f
• Spanish: emperatriz (es) f
• Ukrainian: імператри́ця f (imperatrýcja), імператри́ця f (imperatrýcja)
• Vietnamese: hoàng hậu (vi)
• Welsh: ymerodres f
• West Frisian: keizerinne c

third trump or major arcana

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Marathi: ^{(please verify)} महाराणी f (mahārāṇī)

Etymology 2

From Middle English empresse, from Anglo-Norman enpresser (“to press, to imprint”), from Old French empresser. Attested from the 15th or late 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɛs/
• Rhymes: -ɛs

Verb

empress (third-person singular simple present empresses, present participle empressing, simple past and past participle empressed)

1. Rare form of impress.