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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

reign.

The exercise of sovereign power.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɹeɪ̯n//ɹeɪ̯n/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹæɪ̯n/Australia, New-Zealand/ɹen/Scotland

  1. The exercise of sovereign power.

    England prospered under Elizabeth I's reign.

  2. The period during which a monarch rules.

    The reign of Victoria was a long one.

  3. The territory or sphere over which a kingdom; empire; realm; dominion, etc. is ruled.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs Proto-Italic *rēks Latin rēx Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Latin -nus Latin *rēgnusnom. Latin rēgnum Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin rēgnō, rēgnārebor. Old French reignier Anglo-Norman regnerbor. Middle English regnen English reign Inherited from Middle English regnen, from Old French reignier, from the Latin verb rēgnō, and the noun rēgnum. Doublet of regnum. Displaced native Old English rīċe (“a reign”) and ricsian (“to reign”).

verb/ɹeɪ̯n//ɹeɪ̯n/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹæɪ̯n/Australia, New-Zealand/ɹen/Scotland

  1. To exercise sovereign power, to rule as a monarch.

    intransitive
    He reigned in an autocratic manner.

  2. To reign over (a country)

    nonstandard · rare · transitive

  3. To be the winner of the most recent iteration of a competition.

  4. To be a dominant quality of a place or situation; to prevail, predominate, rule.

    Silence reigned.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs Proto-Italic *rēks Latin rēx Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Latin -nus Latin *rēgnusnom. Latin rēgnum Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin rēgnō, rēgnārebor. Old French reignier Anglo-Norman regnerbor. Middle English regnen English reign Inherited from Middle English regnen, from Old French reignier, from the Latin verb rēgnō, and the noun rēgnum. Doublet of regnum. Displaced native Old English rīċe (“a reign”) and ricsian (“to reign”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.