royalty

American  

[roi-uhl-tee] / ˈrɔɪ əl ti /

noun

• royalties
  plural

1. royal persons collectively.

2. royal status, dignity, or power; sovereignty.

   to be elevated to royalty.

3. a person of royal lineage; member of a royal family.

4. Archaic. royalties, prerogatives, rights, or symbolic emblems of a king, queen, or other sovereign.

5. a royal domain; kingdom; realm.

6. character or quality proper to or befitting a sovereign; nobility.

7. the most well-known and admired member or members of a particular field or category.

   Her parents are Hollywood royalty. The brand is royalty among champagnes.

8. a compensation or portion of the proceeds paid to the owner of a right, as a patent or oil or mineral right, for the use of it.

9. an agreed portion of the income from a work paid to its author, composer, etc., usually a percentage of the retail price of each copy sold.

10. a royal right, as over minerals, granted by a sovereign to a person or corporation.

11. the payment made for such a right.

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royalty British  

/ ˈrɔɪəltɪ /

noun

1. the rank, power, or position of a king or queen

2. 1. royal persons collectively

   2. one who belongs to the royal family

3. any quality characteristic of a monarch; kingliness or regal dignity

4. a percentage of the revenue from the sale of a book, performance of a theatrical work, use of a patented invention or of land, etc, paid to the author, inventor, or proprietor

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royalty Cultural  

1. A payment made for some right or privilege, as when a publisher pays a royalty to an author for the author's granting the publisher the right to sell the author's book.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonroyalty
  noun
• preroyalty
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• royalties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of royalty

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English roialte, from Middle French, Old French roialté, derivative of roial; see origin at royal, -ty ²

Explanation

Royalty is a good word for describing a family of kings, queens, princes, and princesses. If you are in the music business, you may expect a payment, or royalty every time your song is played. How's that for royal treatment? The noun royalty means a group of royals, or kings and their extended families. Queen Elizabeth of England is a member of Britain's royalty, for example. You can also use royalty to describe the payment a writer receives whenever her book is sold, or that a musician gets when his song is played in a grocery store. The word comes from the Latin regalis, "regal," which in turn comes from rex, "king."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

royalty royalties

But while Zainab spends much of her time rubbing shoulders with Hollywood royalty, home life in Harrow, north-west London is completely different.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Surfer Magazine described the younger Aipa as a “surf royalty heir,” noting that he had a promising surf career himself, as well as sponsorships from several surf clothing brands.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

Longo, Todd Morgan, and Sebastian Brandhorst have filed patents related to the Fasting-Mimicking Diet through the University of Southern California, which has licensed related intellectual property to L-Nutra and may receive royalty payments.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026

Sharing the suffering and elation of football fans matters in a world where public perceptions of royalty have been tested in recent months.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

The biggest stars of the day, paid outrageous fees and treated like royalty, were castrati.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Tidal has banned AI-generated music from receiving royalties on its platform.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

In May 2024, a judge ruled that Cher was owed more than $418,000 in unpaid royalties, according to People magazine—however, that did not bring an end to the legal dispute.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

The AMA holds the copyright, so it earns licensing royalties when the codes are used.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

The petition states that the estate included residuals and royalties, rights to his image and intellectual property, investments, insurance policies, personal property and multiple bank accounts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Murray would not withhold royalties as his first publisher had, and he would not make Charles pay him to have his books published, as some other publishers did.

From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman

Related Words

• fee
• payment
• percentage
• portion
• share