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LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

princeps.

leader/chief, first/leading member/citizen/man; master/expert; founder/proposer; Princeps (non-military title of Roman Emperor); senior Senator; leader of pack;

8 characters2 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

adj[ˈpriːŋ.kɛps]Classical-Latin[ˈprɪŋ.kɛps]Classical-Latin[ˈprin̠ʲ.t͡ʃeps]

  1. first, foremost

    declension-3 · one-termination

  2. chief, distinguished

    declension-3 · one-termination
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-der. Proto-Italic *pri Proto-Indo-European *-yōs Proto-Indo-European *-(t)m̥mos Proto-Indo-European *-is(t)m̥mós Proto-Italic *-isəmos Proto-Italic *prīzmos Latin prīmus substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Archaic Latin kapiō Latin capiō Proto-Indo-European *-s Latin -s Latin -ceps Latin prīnceps Syncope of Proto-Italic *prīzmokaps. Ultimately from prīmus (“first”) + -ceps (“catcher”). Compare Old English fruma (“chief, prince, ruler”), a direct Germanic cognate of Latin primus. Compare also, typologically, Russian самоде́ржец (samodéržec, “autocrat”, literally “selfholder”).

noun[ˈpriːŋ.kɛps]Classical-Latin[ˈprɪŋ.kɛps]Classical-Latin[ˈprin̠ʲ.t͡ʃeps]

  1. a leader, first man or woman, head

    declension-3

  2. a principal person

    declension-3

  3. an author, originator, founder

    declension-3

  4. a chief, director

    declension-3

  5. a prince, sovereign

    declension-3

  6. company or division of the second line of soldiers

    declension-3 · in-plural
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-der. Proto-Italic *pri Proto-Indo-European *-yōs Proto-Indo-European *-(t)m̥mos Proto-Indo-European *-is(t)m̥mós Proto-Italic *-isəmos Proto-Italic *prīzmos Latin prīmus substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Archaic Latin kapiō Latin capiō Proto-Indo-European *-s Latin -s Latin -ceps Latin prīnceps Syncope of Proto-Italic *prīzmokaps. Ultimately from prīmus (“first”) + -ceps (“catcher”). Compare Old English fruma (“chief, prince, ruler”), a direct Germanic cognate of Latin primus. Compare also, typologically, Russian самоде́ржец (samodéržec, “autocrat”, literally “selfholder”).

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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.