queen

¹

[kween]

noun

1. a female sovereign or monarch.

2. the wife or consort of a king.

3. a woman, or something personified as a woman, that is foremost or preeminent in any respect.

   a movie queen; a beauty queen; Athens, the queen of the Aegean.

4. 1. Slang: Usually Disparaging and Offensive.,  a term used to refer to a gay man, especially one who is flamboyantly campy or effeminate.

   2. drag queen.

5. a playing card bearing a picture of a queen.

6. Chess.,  the most powerful piece of either color, moved across any number of empty squares in any direction.

7. Entomology.,  a fertile female ant, bee, termite, or wasp.

8. a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter Q.

verb (used without object)

1. to reign as queen.

2. to behave in an imperious or pretentious manner (usually followed byit ).

3. Chess.,  to become promoted to a queen.

Queen

²

[kween]

noun

1. Ellery, joint pen name of Manfred Bennington Lee and Frederick Dannay.

queen

¹

/ kwiːn /

noun

1. a female sovereign who is the official ruler or head of state

2. the wife or widow of a king

3. a woman or a thing personified as a woman considered the best or most important of her kind

   a beauty queen

   the queen of ocean liners

4. slang,  an effeminate male homosexual

5. 1. the only fertile female in a colony of social insects, such as bees, ants, and termites, from the eggs of which the entire colony develops

   2. ( as modifier )

      a queen bee

6. an adult female cat

7. one of four playing cards in a pack, one for each suit, bearing the picture of a queen

8. a chess piece, theoretically the most powerful piece, able to move in a straight line in any direction or diagonally, over any number of squares

verb

1. chess to promote (a pawn) to a queen when it reaches the eighth rank

2. (tr) to crown as queen

3. informal,  (intr) (of a gay man) to flaunt one's homosexuality

4. (intr) to reign as queen

5. informal,  (often foll by over) to behave in an overbearing manner

Queen

²

/ kwiːn /

noun

1. Ellery (ˈɛlərɪ). pseudonym of Frederic Dannay (1905–82) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–71), US co-authors of detective novels featuring a sleuth also called Ellery Queen

Sensitive Note

The term queen is usually used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting when in reference to a gay man, especially one considered to be effeminate or flamboyant. However, within the gay community, it is sometimes used in a friendly, teasing, or facetious manner, and can also be a positive term of self-reference.

Other Word Forms

• queenless adjective
• queenlike adjective
• underqueen noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of queen¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English quene, quen, Old English cwēn “woman, queen”; cognate with Old Saxon quān, Old Norse kvān, Gothic qēns, from unattested Germanic kwēni-; akin to Old Irish ben, Greek gynḗ woman, Russian zhená, Sanskrit jani “wife”

Word History and Origins

Origin of queen¹

Old English cwēn; related to Old Saxon quān wife, Old Norse kvæn, Gothic qēns wife

Example Sentences

This isn’t your grandmother’s china—unless, of course, your grandmother was the queen of France.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

This may seem like esoterica — but hold on, queen.

Read more on Salon

Born in Colombia and raised in Norway, Braekhus spent her career breaking down barriers - from fighting misogyny in the gym to silencing critics on her way to becoming the undisputed queen of the sport.

Read more on BBC

I eventually married a blond, doe-eyed beauty, a former member of the homecoming queen’s court at UCLA, who was out of my league but liked my jokes.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Indy is the most empathetic scream queen of the year so far — and I mean that literally as his breed, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever, is known for its high-pitched wail.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• monarch 
• ruler