sultan
pronunciation
How to pronounce sultan in British English:
UK [ˈsʌltən]
How to pronounce sultan in American English:
US [ˈsʌltən]
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- Noun:
- the ruler of a Muslim country (especially of the former Ottoman Empire)
Word Origin
- sultan
- sultan: [16] Arabic sultān meant ‘ruler’. It was derived from Aramaic shultānā ‘power’, which in turn was based on the verb shəlēt ‘have power’. English acquired the word via medieval Latin sultānus. The Italian version of the word is sultano, whose feminine form has given English sultana ‘sultan’s wife’ [16]. The word was applied to a variety of small raisin (originally in full sultana raisin) in the early 19th century.
- sultan (n.)
- 1550s, from Middle French sultan "ruler of Turkey" (16c.), ultimately from Arabic sultan "ruler, prince, monarch, king, queen," originally "power, dominion." According to Klein's sources, this is from Aramaic shultana "power," from shelet "have power." Earlier English word was soldan, soudan (c. 1300), used indiscriminately of Muslim rulers and sovereigns, from Old French souldan, soudan, from Medieval Latin sultanus. Related: Sultanic.
Example
- 1. Critics say he may become turkey 's next sultan .
- 2. The sultan 's turret in a noose of light .
- 3. Following the death of the sultan who had british sympathies , his nephew seized power through a coup .
- 4. A few years afterwards he then deposed the sultan and took control of the government .
- 5. Sultan took the lucrative defence portfolio , and nayef eventually succeeded fahd at the interior ministry .