tsar
UK /(t)sɑː/ · US /(t)sɑɹ/ noun
Also a form of tsarina
Forms tsars tsari czar tzar csar
- noun (historical) An emperor of Russia (1547 to 1917) and of some South Slavic states.
- noun (figuratively) A person with great power; an autocrat.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian царь (carʹ), from Old East Slavic цьсарь (cĭsarĭ), from Proto-Slavic *cěsařь, from a Germanic language, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar. Doublet of Caesar and Kaiser. The spelling tsar began to replace the older czar in the nineteenth century. Compare Byzantine Greek Τζαῖσαρ (Tzaîsar).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tsar”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details