marquis
See also: Marquis
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From French marquis, from Old French markis, marchis, from Late Latin marchensis, from Old High German marcha and Frankish *marka, from Proto-Germanic *markō, from Proto-Indo-European *marǵ- (“edge, boundary”).
Meaning is “lord of the march”, in sense of march (“border country”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmɑː.kwɪs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /mɑɹ.ˈki/, /ˈmɑɹ.kwɪs/
- (General American, for the plural spelled marquis) IPA(key): /mɑɹ.ˈkiz/
Noun
marquis (plural marquises or marquis)
- A nobleman in England, France, and Germany, of a rank next below that of duke, but above a count. Originally, the marquis was an officer whose duty was to guard the marches or frontiers of the kingdom. The office has ceased, and the name is now a mere title conferred by patent.
- Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genus Bassarona.
Derived terms
Translations
nobleman — see marquess
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for marquis in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Catalan
French
Etymology
Old French marchis, from the same origin as marcher.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maʁ.ki/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “marquis” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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