seigneur
See also: Seigneur
English
Alternative forms
- seignior
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor. Doublet of senior, seignior, sire, and sir.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /sɛˈnjɜ/
- (US) IPA(key): /sɛˈnjɝ/
Noun
seigneur (plural seigneurs)
- (historical) A feudal lord or noble in French contexts.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 156:
- There was less and less love lost between peasants and seigneurs. The services which the latter had provided for the peasant community in the past had diminished in value.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 156:
- The hereditary feudal ruler of Sark.
- 2012, Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 29 Oct 2012:
- Beaumont lives on Sark, a small, autonomous island twenty-five miles off the coast of Normandy, with her husband, Michael, the island's seigneur.
- 2012, Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 29 Oct 2012:
- (Canada) A landowner in Canada; the holder of a seigneurie.
- A hereditary title in the Bailiwick of Jersey.
Coordinate terms
- seigneuresse (wife of a seigneur)
- seigneuresse (a female seingeur)
Derived terms
- seigneurial
- seigneury
French
Etymology
From Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor (oblique form), from Latin seniōrem, accusative singular of senior (compare sire, derived from the nominative form). Doublet of senior.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sɛ.ɲœʁ/, /se.ɲœʁ/
Audio (file)
Noun
seigneur m (plural seigneurs, feminine seigneuresse or seigneuse)
- lord (aristocrat, man of high rank)
- lord (master)
- (Canada) seigneur (a landowner, holder of a seigneurie)
Derived terms
- à tout seigneur tout honneur
- vivre en grand seigneur
Related terms
- seigneuresse
- seigneurial
- seigneurie
- sire
- monseigneur
Further reading
- “seigneur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- seringue
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French seignor.
Noun
seigneur m (plural seigneurs)
- lord
- sire (term of respect)
Descendants
- → English: seigneur
- French: seigneur
Old French
Noun
seigneur m (oblique plural seigneurs, nominative singular sire, nominative plural seigneur)
- Alternative form of seignor