realm

English

WOTD – 11 September 2008

Etymology

From Middle English rewme, realme, reaume, from Old French reaume, realme (“kingdom”), of unclear origins. A postulated *rēgālimen (“domain, kingdom”), Late Latin or Vulgar Latin cross of regimen with rēgālis is usually cited.

The modern pronunciation with /l/ is either a spelling pronunciation or influenced by the etymology.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: rĕlm, IPA^(key): /ɹɛlm/
• (Early Modern) IPA^(key): /rɛːm/, /rɛlm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlm

Noun

realm (plural realms)

1. An abstract sphere of influence, real or imagined.
   • 1907, Tada Kanai, “The World and How to Pass Through It”, in Arthur Lloyd, transl., Seven Buddhist Sermons:

     Why should we despise anything in the realm of Buddha?

   • 2006 November 22, Christian Neef, “Diary of a Collapsing Superpower”, in Spiegel Magazine:

     At home in Moscow, Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev, who had launched a campaign to rejuvenate the Soviet realm  […]

   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[2], volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.

2. The domain of a certain abstraction.
   • 1922, Judson Eber Conant, “Truth Must be Classified Scientifically”, in The Church The Schools and Evolution:

     One thing more which the scientific man does is to accord primacy to that realm of truth which is primary in importance.

3. (computing) A scope of operation in networking or security.
4. (formal or law) A territory or state, as ruled by a specific power, especially by a king.
   • 1874, Horatio Alger, “Chapter XXXI”, in Brave and Bold:

     And, of this island realm, he and his companion were the undisputed sovereigns.

   • 1913, Leslie Alexander Toke, Catholic Encyclopedia, "St. Dunstan",

     Then seeing his life was threatened he fled the realm and crossed over to Flanders, […]

5. (fantasy, roleplaying games) An otherworldly dimension or domain — magical, ethereal, or otherwise — usually ruled or created by a mystical character.
6. (virology, taxonomy) A taxonomic rank in the phylogeny of viruses, higher than kingdoms.

Synonyms

• (a territory or state): country, land, kingdom
• (a sphere of activity or influence): field, province

Derived terms

• abjuration of the realm
• abjure the realm
• abstract realm
• coin of the realm
• Commonwealth realm
• custom of the realm
• Eastern Realm
• experience realm
• floristic realm
• hell realm
• Ice Realm
• Indomalayan realm
• in the realm of shades
• Northern Realm
• Oriental realm
• peer of the realm
• realm of fantasy
• realm of possibility
• realm of the dead
• shadow realm
• Snow Realm
• Southern Realm
• Western Realm

 

Translations

sphere of influence

• Arabic: حَيِّز m (ḥayyiz)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܡܠܟܘܬܐ f

• Basque: alor, arlo
• Brunei Malay: alam
• Bulgarian: сфера на действие (sfera na dejstvie), област (bg) f (oblast)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 域 (zh) (yù)

• Danish: sfære c
• Dutch: sfeer (nl) m, rijk (nl) n, wereld (nl) m
• Finnish: vaikutuspiiri
• Galician: ámbito (gl) m
• Georgian: სფერო (spero), სამფლობელო (samplobelo)
• Greek: σφαίρα (el) f (sfaíra)
• Hebrew: תחום (he) m (tkhum)
• Icelandic: ríki (is) n, veldi (is) n
• Indonesian: alam (id)
• Italian: reame (it) m, regno (it) m, dominio (it) f, sfera (it) f, ambito (it)
• Kazakh: аймақ (kk) (aimaq)
• Macedonian: област f (oblast), сфера f (sfera)
• Malay: alam (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sfære m, rike (no) n

  Nynorsk: sfære m, rike n

• Polish: sfera (pl) f
• Portuguese: domínio (pt) m, campo (pt) m, reino (pt) m, âmbito (pt) m
• Russian: о́бласть (ru) f (óblastʹ), сфе́ра (ru) f (sféra)
• Spanish: esfera (es) f
• Swedish: sfär (sv) c
• Ukrainian: о́бласть (uk) (óblastʹ), сфе́ра (sféra)
• Welsh: cyfoeth m, cyfoethau m pl

domain of an abstraction

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: domini (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 領域 / 领域 (zh) (lǐngyù)

• Dutch: domein (nl), rijk (nl) n
• Finnish: piiri (fi), alue (fi)
• French: domaine (fr) m
• Georgian: სამფლობელო (samplobelo)
• Indonesian: ranah (id)
• Italian: dominio (it)
• Macedonian: домен m (domen)
• Polish: domena (pl) f
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

territory or state

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: թագավորություն (hy) (tʻagavorutʻyun)
• Basque: erresuma, erreinu
• Bulgarian: царство (bg) n (carstvo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 王国 (zh) (wángguó), 領域 / 领域 (zh) (lǐngyù)

• Czech: říše (cs) f
• Danish: rige n
• Dutch: rijk (nl) n, koninkrijk (nl) n
• Egyptian: (tꜣ)
• Esperanto: regno (eo)
• Finnish: valtakunta (fi), kuningaskunta (fi)
• French: royaume (fr) m
• Galician: reino (gl) m
• Georgian: სამეფო (samepo), სამფლობელო (samplobelo)
• German: Reich (de) n, Königreich (de) n, Kaiserreich (de) n
• Greek: βασίλειο (el) n (vasíleio), κράτος (el) n (krátos)
• Hebrew: ממלכה (he) f (mamlakha)
• Hungarian: birodalom (hu)
• Icelandic: ríki (is) n
• Irish: flaitheas m
• Italian: reame (it) m, regno (it) m
• Japanese: 王国 (ja) (おうこく, ōkoku)
• Kazakh: әмірлік (ämırlık), корольдік (koroldık), патшалық (patşalyq)
• Latin: rēgnum (la) n
• Macedonian: кралство n (kralstvo), царство n (carstvo)
• Maori: rangatiratanga (mi)
• Middle English: seignurie
• Mongolian: вант улс (vant uls)
• Nahuatl: hueyitlahtohcayotl
• Northern Sami: riika
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rike (no) n

  Nynorsk: rike n

• Old English: rīċe n, cynedōm m
• Old Prussian: rīki
• Polish: królestwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: reino (pt) m
• Russian: короле́вство (ru) n (korolévstvo), ца́рство (ru) n (cárstvo)
• Spanish: reino (es) m, realme (es) m
• Swedish: rike (sv) n
• Telugu: రాజ్యం (te) (rājyaṁ)
• Ukrainian: королі́вство (uk) (korolívstvo), ца́рство (uk) (cárstvo)
• Welsh: cyfoeth m, cyfoethau m pl

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} shtet (sq)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 영역 (ko) (yeong'yeok)
• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} кралство (kralstvo)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 領土 / 领土 (zh) (lǐngtǔ), ^{(please verify)} 领土 (zh) (lǐngtǔ)

Anagrams

• Maler, Lamer, meral, Lemar, lamer, Armel, maerl, Almer, maler, marle, Lerma