basileus
UK/ˌbæsɪˈleɪəs/
basileus noun: a title of the Byzantine emperor.
Noun
basileus (plural basilei or basileis)
- A title of the Byzantine emperor.
- For two centuries its towers and domes were to rise in the heavens, drawing the attention of Emperors and Basilei, of Popes and Patriarchs.1978, Славяни, volume 34, page 3
- Although portrayals of basileis of the eleventh century wearing the loros in the traditional manner are not lacking, I cannot cite a Byzantine example of metropolitan origin later than 1100.1990, Ernst Kitzinger, The Mosaics of St. Mary’s of the Admiral in Palermo, Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, →ISBN, page 192
Forms of basileus
| plural | basilei |
|---|---|
| plural | basileis |
Origin of basileus
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βασιλεύς (basileús, “chief, king”).
Questions about basileus
- What does basileus mean?
- Basileus means a title of the Byzantine emperor.
- What part of speech is basileus?
- Basileus is a noun.
- How do you pronounce basileus?
- Basileus is pronounced /ˌbæsɪˈleɪəs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of basileus?
- The plural of basileus is basilei.
Words near basileus in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: basileus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “basileus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/basileus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
