Word
roy
Phoneticsroy
/ˈɹɔɪ/
Definitions
01a king
n. an old word for a king.
n. a monarch or king. This sense is archaic and typically found in historical or poetic contexts.
“In the old stories, the roy ruled over the valley with a kind heart.”
“The ancient chronicles describe the roy as a figure of immense gravity, whose word was law across the northern territories.”
Archaic · Formal
Usage
Usually functions as a singular countable noun in literary prose.
02royal
adj. an old word meaning royal or related to a king.
adj. pertaining to a monarch; royal. This adjectival use is restricted to archaic or highly stylised literary registers.
“The knight bowed low before the roy family.”
“The poet spoke of roy bloodlines that had remained unbroken since the founding of the first city-state.”
Archaic · Literary
Usage
Typically used as an attributive adjective before a noun.
Etymology
From various sources: Anglo-Norman roy (“king”) a variant of Old French roi, from Latin rēx, rēgem from Proto-Indo-European h₃rḗǵs (“ruler, king”). Doublet of Rey. Scottish Gaelic ruadh (“red, red-haired”) from Old Irish rúad, from Proto-Celtic roudos from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-. * Anglicisation of Bengali রায় (raẏ, surname). Doublet of Rai, rex, and rajah.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/roy