tsar

tsar

English

Alternative forms

• czar, tzar, csar

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian царь (carʹ), from Old East Slavic цьсарь (cĭsarĭ), from Proto-Slavic *cěsařь, from a Germanic language, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar.[1] Doublet of kaiser. The spelling tsar began to replace the older czar in the nineteenth century. Compare Byzantine Greek Τζαῖσαρ (Tzaîsar).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /(t)sɑː/, /zɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /(t)sɑɹ/, /zɑɹ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /zɐː/, /tsɐː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)
• Homophone: Saar

Noun

tsar (plural tsars)

Tsar Nicholas II.

1. (historical) An emperor of Russia (1547 to 1917) and of some South Slavic states.
   • 1832 August 1, W. Barnes, “On the Origin of Language”, in Gentleman's Magazine‎, London, page 129:

     and why, in the name of common sense, should the English call the Czar (tsar) of Russia raze?

2. (figuratively) A person with great power; an autocrat.

Usage notes

• (emperor of Russia): Officially, emperors after 1721 were styled imperator (импера́тор (imperátor)) rather than tsar (царь (carʹ)), but the latter term is still commonly applied to them.
• The term sometimes refers to other emperors, besides those of Russia, e.g. the monarch of Bulgaria (1908-1946).
• The spelling czar is the most common one in the US, especially in figurative and informal senses. Scholarly literature prefers tsar.

Derived terms

Related terms

• if only the tsar knew
• tsardom, czardom
• tsarian
• tsarina, czarina
• tsarism, czarism
• tsarist, czarist
• czarocracy
• czarocrat
• czarocratic

Related terms

Related terms

• csar
• czar
• tsarina
• tsaritsa
• tsarevna
• tsarevich
• tzar

Descendants

• → Hindi: ज़ार (zār), त्सार (tsār)
• → Irish: sár
• → Japanese: ツァー (tsā)
• → Urdu: زار‎, تسار‎

Translations

an emperor

Afrikaans: tsaar (af) Albanian: car (sq) m Arabic: تْسَار‎ m (tsār), قَيْصَر‎ m (qayṣar) Armenian: ցար (hy) (cʿar) Azerbaijani: çar (az) Belarusian: цар m (car) Bengali: জার (jar) Bulgarian: цар (bg) m (car) Catalan: tsar (ca) m Chinese: Dungan: хуонвон (huonvon) Mandarin: 沙皇 (zh) (shāhuáng) Chukchi: тиркэрым (tirkėrym) Crimean Tatar: çar Czech: car (cs) m Danish: zar (da) c Dutch: tsaar (nl) Esperanto: caro Estonian: tsaar (et) Faroese: sarur m Finnish: tsaari (fi) French: tsar (fr) m, tzar (fr) m Gagauz: ţar Georgian: ცარი (cari) German: Zar (de) m Greek: τσάρος (el) m (tsáros) Hebrew: צָאר‎ (he) m (tsar) Hindi: ज़ार m (zār), त्सार m (tsār) Hungarian: cár (hu) Ido: caro (io), carulo (io) Ingrian: kuningas Irish: sár m Italian: zar (it) m Japanese: ツァーリ (ja) (tsāri), ツァー (ja) (tsā), ツァール (ja) (tsāru) Kashubian: césôrz m Kazakh: патша (patşa), царь (sar) Khmer: ត្សារ (tsaa) Korean: 차르 (ko) (chareu), 짜리 (jjari) (North Korea) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: qeyser (ku) m, çar (ku) m Kyrgyz: падыша (ky) (padışa), царь (tsarʹ) Latvian: cars m Lithuanian: caras (lt) Macedonian: цар m (car) Malay: czar Manchu: ᠴᠠᡤᠠᠨ ᡥᠠᠨ (cagan han) Marathi: त्सार m (tsār), जार (jār) Mongolian: Cyrillic: хаан (mn) (xaan) Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ (qaɣan) Northern Sami: cára Norwegian: Bokmål: tsar m Nynorsk: tsar m Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: цѣсарь m (cěsarĭ), царь m (carĭ) Old East Slavic: цьсарь m (cĭsarĭ), царь m (carĭ) Pashto: تزار‎ (ps) m (tazãr) Persian: تزار‎ (fa) (tezâr), تسار‎ (tesâr) Polish: car (pl) m Portuguese: tsar (pt) m, czar (pt) m, tzar m Romanian: țar (ro) m Russian: царь (ru) m (carʹ), импера́тор (ru) m (imperátor) Rusyn: царь m (carʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ца̏р m Roman: cȁr (sh) m Skolt Sami: caarr Slovak: cár (sk) m Slovene: cár m Spanish: zar (es) m Swahili: czar Swedish: tsar (sv) c Tagalog: sar Tajik: подшоҳ (podšoh), шоҳ (tg) (šoh), тсар (tsar) Tatar: патша (tt) (patşa) Thai: ซาร์ (saa) Turkish: çar (tr) Turkmen: patyşa, şa, tsar Ukrainian: цар (uk) m (car) Urdu: زار‎ m (zār), تسار‎ m (tsār) Uyghur: چار‎ (char) Uzbek: podsho (uz), shoh (uz), tsar Vietnamese: sa hoàng (vi), Nga hoàng Volapük: (♂♀) zar (vo), (♂) hizar Yiddish: צאַר‎ m (tsar)

a person with great power; an autocrat

Esperanto: caro Portuguese: tsar (pt) m Russian: царь (ru) m (carʹ), коро́ль (ru) m (korólʹ)

an appointed official tasked to regulate or oversee a specific area

References

1. Funk, W. J., Word origins and their romantic stories, New York, Wilfred Funk, Inc.

Anagrams

• 'rats, RAST, RATs, RTAs, Star, TSRA, arts, arts., rats, sart, star, tars

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Catalan

Etymology

From Russian царь (carʹ), from Old East Slavic цьсарь (cĭsarĭ), from Proto-Slavic *cěsařь, from a Germanic language, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar. Doublet of Cèsar.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈtsar/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈtsaɾ/

Noun

tsar m (plural tsars, feminine tsarina)

1. tsar

Derived terms

• tsarisme
• tsarista

Related terms

• tsarévitx
• tsarevna
• tsarina

 

Further reading

• “tsar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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French

Alternative forms

• czar, tzar

Etymology

From Russian царь (carʹ), from Old East Slavic цьсарь (cĭsarĭ), from Proto-Slavic *cěsařь, from a Germanic language, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar. Doublet of César.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tsaʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

tsar m (plural tsars)

1. czar (Russian nobility)

Related terms

• tsariste
• tsarisme
• tsarine

Descendants

• → Persian: تزار‎ (tezâr)

Further reading

• “tsar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• arts, rats, star

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Galician

Noun

tsar m (plural tsares)

1. tsar

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Russian царь (carʹ), from Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌰𐍂 (kaisar), from Latin Caesar.

Noun

tsar m (definite singular tsaren, indefinite plural tsarer, definite plural tsarene)

1. a tsar or czar

References

• “tsar” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “tsar” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Russian царь (carʹ), from Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌰𐍂 (kaisar), from Latin Caesar.

Noun

tsar m (definite singular tsaren, indefinite plural tsarar, definite plural tsarane)

1. a tsar or czar

References

• “tsar” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Portuguese

Noun

tsar m (plural tsares, feminine tsarina, feminine plural tsarinas)

1. Alternative form of czar

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Swedish

Etymology

From Russian царь (carʹ), from Old East Slavic цьсарь (cĭsarĭ), from Proto-Slavic *cěsařь, from a Germanic language, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tsɑːr/, /sɑːr/

Noun

tsar c

1. tsar

Declension

Declension of tsar
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	tsar	tsaren	tsarer	tsarerna
Genitive	tsars	tsarens	tsarers	tsarernas

Anagrams

• arts, astr., rast, tars

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Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian [Term?], from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰésōr, from *ǵʰes-. Cognate with Albanian dorë, Ancient Greek χείρ (kheír), Old Armenian ձեռն (jeṙn), Hittite [script needed] (kessar). Compare Tocharian B ṣar.

Noun

tsar m

1. hand