*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of regal

From Middle English regal, from Old French regal (“regal, royal”), from Latin rēgālis (“royal, kingly”), from rex (“king”); also regere (“to rule”). Doublet of royal (“belonging to a monarch”), real (“unit of currency”),

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
adj

Of, pertaining to, or suitable for royalty. · Befitting a monarch. · Befitting a king or emperor.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English regal, from Old French regal (“regal, royal”), from Latin rēgālis (“royal, kingly”), from rex (“king”); also regere (“to rule”). Doublet of royal (“belonging to a monarch”), real (“unit of currency”), ariary, and riyal. Cognate with Spanish real, Italian reale, Catalan reial.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Root classification mention*h₃reǵ-ine-pro
  • Inherited-form mentionregalenm
  • Derivation mentionregalfro
  • Derivation mentionrēgālisla
  • Doublet mentionroyalen · belonging to a monarch
  • Doublet mentionrealen · unit of currency
  • Doublet mentionariaryen
  • Doublet mentionriyalen
  • Cognate mentionreales
  • Cognate mentionrealeit
  • Cognate mentionreialca
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "3": "*h₃reǵ-"
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      "name": "inh",
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    },
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        "3": "regal",
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      "expansion": "Old French regal (“regal, royal”)"
    },
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      "expansion": "Latin rēgālis (“royal, kingly”)"
    },
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        "3": "real",
        "4": "ariary",
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        "t1": "belonging to a monarch",
        "t2": "unit of currency"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of royal (“belonging to a monarch”), real (“unit of currency”), ariary, and riyal"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "es",
        "2": "real"
      },
      "expansion": "Spanish real"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "it",
        "2": "reale"
      },
      "expansion": "Italian reale"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "ca",
        "2": "reial"
      },
      "expansion": "Catalan reial"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
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      "regal#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "regal",
      "regal#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "rēgālis",
      "regalis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "rex",
      "rex#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "regere",
      "regere#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "royal",
      "royal#English"
    ],
    [
      "real",
      "real#English"
    ],
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      "ariary",
      "ariary#English"
    ],
    [
      "riyal",
      "riyal#English"
    ],
    [
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      "real#Spanish"
    ],
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      "reale",
      "reale#Italian"
    ],
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Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
noun

A small, portable organ whose sound is produced by brass beating reeds without amplifying resonators. Its tone is keen and rich in harmonics. The regal was common in the 16th and 17th centuries, and has been revived for the performance of music from those times. · An organ stop of the reed family, furnished with a normal beating reed, but whose resonator is a fraction of its natural length. In the 16th and 17th centuries these stops took a multitude of forms. Today only one survives that is of universal currency, the so-called vox humana.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English regal, from Middle French régale, possibly from Old French regol (“a gutter, channel”). Doublet of rail, regula, rigol, and rule.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "1": "en",
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        "3": "regal"
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    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
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        "2": "frm",
        "3": "régale"
      },
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    },
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    },
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      "expansion": "³"
    },
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      },
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    }
  ],
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    ],
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      "régale#Middle_French"
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      "regol#Old_French"
    ],
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    ],
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    ],
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    ],
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    ]
  ],
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        "An organ stop of the reed family, furnished with a normal beating reed, but whose resonator is a fraction of its natural length. In the 16th and 17th centuries these stops took a multitude of forms. Today only one survives that is of universal currency, the so-called vox humana."
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for regal →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-cmVnYWw