Guelph

/ɡwɛlf/

Guelph noun: in the politics of medieval Italian city states, any member of a faction that supported the Pope in a long struggle against the Ghibellines and the Holy Roman Emperor.

Noun

Guelph (plural Guelphs)

(historical) In the politics of medieval Italian city states, any member of a faction that supported the Pope in a long struggle against the Ghibellines and the Holy Roman Emperor.
- The parties of Guelph and Ghibelline raged as fiercely as if the lances of the German hosts were ever glimmering on the crest of the Alps, or as if the Lombard leagues were in constant watchfulness against an impending foe. […] Speaking generally, the Ghibellines were the party of the emperor, and...1893, Oscar Browning, Guelphs and Ghibellines: A Short History of Mediaeval Italy from 1250-1409, Methuen & Co., page 13
(historical) Any member of the German-Hanoverian Party (1867–1933), a conservative federalist political party in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic founded in protest of the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by the Kingdom of Prussia.
- Bismarck was aware of the opportunity which the Reichstag afforded the Guelphs.1973, Stewart A. Stehlin, Bismarck and the Guelph Problem 1866-1890, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, page 111

Proper noun

Guelph

Synonym of Welf, a dynasty, a cadet branch of the Italian House of Este, founded in the 11th century by Welf I, Duke of Bavaria.
- House of Guelph
Synonyms:

Welf
A city, the county seat of Wellington County, Ontario, Canada.

Guelph meaning in Marathi, Arabic, Indonesian and Thai

Guelph in Marathi

member of a medieval Italian faction that supported the Pope: ग्वेल्फ gvelpha

Guelph in Arabic

member of a medieval Italian faction that supported the Pope: غولف

Guelph in Indonesian

member of a medieval Italian faction that supported the Pope: Guelf

Guelph in Thai

member of a medieval Italian faction that supported the Pope: เกลฟ์ glee

Synonyms of Guelph

Welf

Forms of Guelph

plural	Guelphs
alternative form	Guelf
alternative form	Gwelph
alternative form	Gwelf

Origin of Guelph

From Italian guelfo, from Middle High German Welf, a Bavarian dynasty. Welf II, Duke of Bavaria, inherited from his Italian wife, the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, possessions including Tuscany, Ferrara, Modena, Mantua and Reggio, which played a role in the Investiture Controversy. The Welf dynasty sided with the Pope in this controversy, so partisans of the Pope became known in Italy as Guelfi.

Words formed from Guelph

Words that rhyme with Guelph

38 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about Guelph

What does Guelph mean?: Guelph means in the politics of medieval Italian city states, any member of a faction that supported the Pope in a long struggle against the Ghibellines and the Holy Roman Emperor.
What is Guelph in Marathi?: Guelph in Marathi is ग्वेल्फ (gvelpha). See Guelph meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is Guelph?: Guelph can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Guelph?: Guelph is pronounced /ɡwɛlf/.
What is the plural of Guelph?: The plural of Guelph is Guelphs.

Words near Guelph in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: Guelph (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-ca-Guelph.oga.

Cite this entry: “Guelph.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guelph. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.