Queen

UK: 'queen', 'Queen': /ˈkwiːn/ US: /kwin/ ,(kwēn)

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Queen / kwiːn/ noun

1. Ellery ( ˈɛlərɪ ). pseudonym of Frederic Dannay (1905–82) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–71), US co-authors of detective novels featuring a sleuth also called Ellery Queen

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

queen /kwin/   n. [countable]

1. Government a female ruler or monarch.
2. Government the wife of a king.
3. a woman, or something thought of as a woman, considered pre-eminent in some way:
   a beauty queen; Athens, the queen of the Aegean.
4. Slang Terms (usually disparaging and offensive).
   • a flamboyantly feminine male homosexual.
5. a playing card bearing a picture of a queen.
6. Chess the most powerful chess piece of either color, able to be moved across any number of empty squares in a straight line in any direction.
7. Insects a female ant, bee, termite, or wasp capable of laying eggs.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

queen  (kwēn), n. 

1. Government a female sovereign or monarch.
2. Government the wife or consort of a king.
3. a woman, or something personified as a woman, that is foremost or preeminent in any respect:
   a movie queen;
   a beauty queen;
   Athens, the queen of the Aegean.
4. Slang Terms (disparaging and offensive).
   • a male homosexual, esp. one who is flamboyantly campy.
   • See drag queen. 
5. a playing card bearing a picture of a queen.
6. Chess the most powerful piece of either color, moved across any number of empty squares in any direction.
7. Insects [Entomol.] a fertile female ant, bee, termite, or wasp.
8. a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter Q.

v.i. 

9. Government to reign as queen.
10. to behave in an imperious or pretentious manner (usually fol. by it).
11. Chess to become promoted to a queen.

• Gmc *kwēni-; akin to Old Irish ben, Greek gyné̄ woman, Russian zhená, Sanskrit jani wife
• bef. 900; Middle English quene, quen, Old English cwēn woman, queen; cognate with Old Saxon quān, Old Norse kvān, Gothic qēns

queen′less, adj. 
queen′like′, adj. 

Queen  (kwēn), n. 

1. Biographical Ellery, joint pen name of Manfred Bennington Lee and Frederic Dannay.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

queen / kwiːn/ noun

1. a female sovereign who is the official ruler or head of state
2. the wife or widow of a king
3. a woman or a thing personified as a woman considered the best or most important of her kind: a beauty queen, the queen of ocean liners
4. a woman who is greatly admired or respected
5. an effeminate homosexual man
6. the only fertile female in a colony of social insects, such as bees, ants, and termites, from the eggs of which the entire colony develops
7. an adult female cat
8. one of four playing cards in a pack, one for each suit, bearing the picture of a queen
9. a chess piece, theoretically the most powerful piece, able to move in a straight line in any direction or diagonally, over any number of squares

verb

1. to promote (a pawn) to a queen when it reaches the eighth rank
2. (transitive) to crown as queen
3. (intransitive) to reign as queen
4. queen it ⇒ (often followed by over) to behave in an overbearing manner

Etymology: Old English cwēn; related to Old Saxon quān wife, Old Norse kvæn, Gothic qēns wife