sultan
/ˈsʌltən/ noun, proper noun
Forms sultans salateen
- noun (historical) The holder of a secular office, formally subordinate to, but de facto the power behind the throne of, the caliph.
- noun A hereditary ruler in various Muslim states (sultanate), varying from petty principalities (as in Yemen), often vassal of a greater ruler, to independent realms, such as Oman, Brunei, Morocco (until 1957) or an empire such as the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
- noun (card games, uncountable) A variant of solitaire, played with two decks of cards.
- noun A breed of chicken originating in Turkey, kept primarily in gardens for ornamental reasons. See: sultan (chicken)
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A glacier in Antarctica
- proper noun A village in Azerbaijan.
- proper noun A coastal town in Libya.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Ontario.
- proper noun A town, village and mountain range in Turkey.
- proper noun A city and river in Washington.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French sultan or Medieval Latin sultanus, from Ottoman Turkish سلطان (sultan), from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān, “strength, authority, ruler”). Compare Hebrew שִׁלְטוֹן (shiltón) and סוּלְטָן (sultán). Doublet of soldan.
Unadapted borrowing from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).
Transliteration of Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A ruler, or sovereign, of a Mohammedan state; specifically, the ruler of the Turks; the Padishah, or Grand Seignior; --officially so called. Sultan flower. (Bot.) See Sweet sultan, under Sweet.
Etymology [F. sultan (cf. Sp. soldan, It. sultano, soldano), Ar. sultan sultan, dominion. Cf. Soldan.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sultan”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details