Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
queen regent

queen regent

7.4
A woman who rules a country because the king cannot, often until the heir is old enough
  • noun
  • /kwin ˈrɛdʒənt/
translation icon : reina regente
  • When the king went abroad for diplomatic missions, the queen regent took charge of the royal court.

Examples

  • During the king's illness, the queen regent effectively managed the kingdom's affairs.

  • Well, if the queen were a queen regent, or if she were a princess regent herself...

    Blog text (23)

  • The young prince was too inexperienced to rule, so his mother acted as queen regent until he came of age.

Synonyms

regent
vsqueen regent
1 7.8

Someone who is temporarily acting as ruler for a monarch who is too young or absent

is a female who temporarily rules when the king cannot rule

Surface Forms

queen regent singular
queen regents plural

Morphology

queen + regent

The meaning is directly compositional: 'queen' (female monarch) combined with 'regent' (a person governing in place of the monarch) yields a female who is acting as regent. This straightforward noun+noun specification is cross-linguistically common and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Queen regent is a phrase that names a queen who rules instead of the king when he is too young, sick, or away. So, it means 'a queen who rules in the king's place'.