Unnumbered source etymology · variant 1/2
Original entry ↗The wife, consort, or widow of a king. · A female monarch. · The Virgin Mary (especially in formulations such as Queen of Heaven, Queen of Glory). · An excellent woman.
From Middle English quene, queen, cwen, from Old English cwēn (“queen”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni, from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“wife, 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 Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk 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. In reference to insects, by analogy with the obsolete term king, which it took over from starting in the 1600s, when they were discovered to be female.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Inherited-form mentionqueneenm
- Inherited-form mentioncwēnang
- Inherited-form mention*kwānigmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*kwēnizgem-pro
- Inherited-form mention*gʷḗnine-pro
- Cognate mentionqueensco
- Cognate mentionquānosx
- Cognate mentionkweennl
- Cognate mentionkvinnasv
- Cognate mentionkvindeda
- Cognate mentionkvonis
- Cognate mention𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃got
- Cognate mentionqueneenm
- Cognate mentioncweneang · woman; female serf, quean
- Doublet mentionqueanen
- Doublet mentiongyneen
This page abbreviates 20 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "quene"
},
"expansion": "Middle English quene"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "cwēn",
"4": "",
"5": "queen"
},
"expansion": "Old English cwēn (“queen”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmw-pro",
"3": "*kwāni"
},
"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *kwāni"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*kwēniz",
"4": "",
"5": "wife, woman"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“wife, woman”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*gʷḗn",
"4": "*gʷénh₂s",
"5": "woman"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *gʷénh₂s (“woman”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sco",
"2": "queen"
},
"expansion": "Scots queen"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "osx",
"2": "quān"
},
"expansion": "Old Saxon quān"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "gml",
"2": "-"
},
"expansion": "Middle Low German"
},
{
"name": "gloss",
"args": {
"1": "\"wife\"; > Middle Low German <i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"gml\">quene</i> (“elderly woman”)"
},
"expansion": "(\"wife\"; > Middle Low German quene (“elderly woman”))"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "kween",
"3": "",
"4": "woman past child-bearing age"
},
"expansion": "Dutch kween (“woman past child-bearing age”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "kvinna",
"3": "",
"4": "woman"
},
"expansion": "Swedish kvinna (“woman”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nb,nn",
"2": "kvinne",
"3": "",
"4": "woman"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk kvinne (“woman”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "kvinde",
"3": "",
"4": "woman"
},
"expansion": "Danish kvinde (“woman”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "is",
"2": "kvon",
"3": "",
"4": "wife"
},
"expansion": "Icelandic kvon (“wife”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "got",
"2": "𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃",
"3": "",
"4": "wife"
},
"expansion": "Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "no",
"2": "-"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian"
},
{
"name": "m+",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "quean"
},
"expansion": "English quean"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "quene"
},
"expansion": "Middle English quene"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "cwene",
"t": "woman; female serf, quean"
},
"expansion": "Old English cwene (“woman; female serf, quean”)"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "regina",
"t": "queen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English regina (“queen”)"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "la",
"2": "rēgīna",
"t": "queen"
},
"expansion": "Latin rēgīna (“queen”)"
},
{
"name": "doublet",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "quean",
"3": "gyne"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of quean and gyne"
}
],
"links": [
[
"quene",
"quene#Middle_English"
],
[
"queen",
"queen#Middle_English"
],
[
"cwen",
"cwen#Middle_English"
],
[
"cwēn",
"cwen#Old_English"
],
[
"*kwāni",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/kwāni"
],
[
"*kwēniz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/kwēniz"
],
[
"*gʷénh₂s",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/gʷḗn"
],
[
"queen",
"queen#Scots"
],
[
"wheen",
"wheen#Scots"
],
[
"quān",
"quan#Old_Saxon"
],
[
"Middle Low German",
"w:Middle Low German"
],
[
"quene",
"quene#Middle_Low_German"
],
[
"kween",
"kween#Dutch"
],
[
"kvinna",
"kvinna#Swedish"
],
[
"Norwegian Bokmål",
"kvinne#Norwegian_Bokmål"
],
[
"kvinne",
"kvinne#Norwegian_Nynorsk"
],
[
"kvinde",
"kvinde#Danish"
],
[
"kvon",
"kvon#Icelandic"
],
[
"𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃",
"𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃#Gothic"
],
[
"kvån",
"kvån#Norwegian"
],
[
"quean",
"quean#English"
],
[
"quene",
"quene#Middle_English"
],
[
"cwene",
"cwene#Old_English"
],
[
"quean",
"quean#English"
],
[
"regina",
"regina#Middle_English"
],
[
"rēgīna",
"regina#Latin"
],
[
"Regina",
"Regina#English"
],
[
"quean",
"quean#English"
],
[
"gyne",
"gyne#English"
],
[
"king",
"king#English"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [
{
"lang": "Tok Pisin",
"lang_code": "tpi",
"word": "kwin"
},
{
"lang": "American Sign Language",
"lang_code": "ase",
"word": "G@Shoulder-PalmDown G@Abdomen-PalmDown",
"raw_tags": [
"reshaped by analogy or addition of morphemes"
]
},
{
"lang": "Burmese",
"lang_code": "my",
"word": "ကွင်း",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
],
"roman": "kwang:"
},
{
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"word": "Queen",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
]
},
{
"lang": "Japanese",
"lang_code": "ja",
"word": "クイーン",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
],
"roman": "kuīn"
},
{
"lang": "Japanese",
"lang_code": "ja",
"word": "クィーン",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
],
"roman": "kwīn"
},
{
"lang": "Korean",
"lang_code": "ko",
"word": "퀸",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
],
"roman": "kwin"
},
{
"lang": "Marshallese",
"lang_code": "mh",
"word": "kwiin",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
]
},
{
"lang": "Māori",
"lang_code": "mi",
"word": "kuīni",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
]
},
{
"lang": "Sikaiana",
"lang_code": "sky",
"word": "kuini",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
]
},
{
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"word": "cuina",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
]
},
{
"lang": "Thai",
"lang_code": "th",
"word": "ควีน",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
],
"roman": "kwiin"
}
],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"The wife, consort, or widow of a king.",
"A female monarch.",
"The Virgin Mary (especially in formulations such as Queen of Heaven, Queen of Glory).",
"An excellent woman."
],
"tags": [],
"recordId": "2f8a747927e8d4bacef9e6395c6a63e6d930a3eb68a389efe2aec501cf7c580f",
"rawRecordSha256": "36417b660d0d70e942e7d1c916b255045023f6ade8b89d300b5316cfa09870e5",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 14118
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 20,
"glosses": 0
}
}