Word.ws English Dictionary

princeling

princeling noun: a minor or less important prince.

Noun

princeling (plural princelings)

  1. A minor or less important prince.
    • Spices reached Europe after being carried over the Asiatic caravan routes by the Radanite merchants, to be re-distributed among traders and apothecaries, pilgrims and princelings.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 224
    • Speaking of the guest list, though, it is most disappointing to find some of the third tier European princelings unable to hide their bitterness at being NFI.2011 April 23, Marina Hyde, “Royal wedding: third tier European princeling is bitter at being NFI”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 06 May 2021
  2. (derogatory) A descendant of some prominent and influential senior communist official in the People's Republic of China.

Forms of princeling

pluralprincelings

Origin of princeling

From prince + -ling.

Questions about princeling

What does princeling mean?
Princeling means a minor or less important prince.
What part of speech is princeling?
Princeling is a noun.
What is the plural of princeling?
The plural of princeling is princelings.

Words near princeling in the dictionary

  1. princeliest
  2. princelihood
  3. princelike
  4. princelily
  5. princeliness
  6. princeling
  7. princelings
  8. princely
  9. princely state
  10. princely states
  11. princely sum

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: princeling (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: “princeling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/princeling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.