seigneur

See also: Seigneur

English

Alternative forms

• seignior

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor. Doublet of seignior, senhor, senior, señor, senyor, signore, sir, and sire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɛˈnjɜ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɛˈnjɝ/

Noun

seigneur (plural seigneurs)

1. (history) A feudal lord or noble in French contexts.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 156:

     There was less and less love lost between peasants and seigneurs. The services which the latter had provided for the peasant community in the past had diminished in value.

2. The hereditary feudal ruler of Sark.
   • 2012 October 29, Lauren Collins, The New Yorker:

     Beaumont lives on Sark, a small, autonomous island twenty-five miles off the coast of Normandy, with her husband, Michael, the island's seigneur.

3. (Canada) A landowner in Canada; the holder of a seigneurie.
4. A hereditary title in the Bailiwick of Jersey.

Coordinate terms

• seigneuresse (wife of a seigneur)
• seigneuresse (a female seigneur)
• dame (female feudal ruler of Sark)

Derived terms

• seigneurial
• seigneury

Related terms

• droit de seigneur
• grand seigneur

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor (oblique form), from Latin seniōrem (compare sire, derived from the nominative form). Doublet of senior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ.ɲœʁ/ ~ /se.ɲœʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

seigneur m (plural seigneurs, feminine seigneuresse or seigneuse)

1. lord (aristocrat, man of high rank)
2. lord (master)
3. (Canada) seigneur (a landowner, holder of a seigneurie)

Derived terms

• à tout seigneur tout honneur
• vivre en grand seigneur

Related terms

• seigneuresse
• seigneurial
• seigneurie
• sire
• monseigneur

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• seringue

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French seignor.

Noun

seigneur m (plural seigneurs)

1. lord
2. sire (term of respect)

Descendants

• → English: seigneur
• French: seigneur

Old French

Noun

seigneur oblique singular, m (oblique plural seigneurs, nominative singular sire, nominative plural seigneur)

1. Alternative form of seignor