queen consort
- noun
- /kwin ˈkɒnsɔrt/
- Formal
:
reina consorte
- The historical records highlight the achievements of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was a notable queen consort during the 12th century.
Examples
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Catherine in many ways was an ideal queen consort.
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As the new king was crowned, his wife stood proudly beside him, fulfilling her role as queen consort.
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When the king ascended the throne, his queen consort was celebrated in a grand ceremony to honor her new status.
Synonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: combining 'queen' (a female monarch or royal title) with 'consort' (spouse of a reigning monarch) yields a queen by virtue of marriage rather than reigning in her own right. A B1 learner who knows both constituent words can readily infer this role, and the formation follows common cross-linguistic patterns for role-combination.
Etymology
Queen consort combines queen and consort, and consort was once a word for 'companion'. The picture is of a queen standing beside the king as his partner, not the one who rules, so queen consort means the king's 'wife' who has the title of queen because she is his spouse, not because she rules.