Thursday, March 17, 2011

Regnant

Yep, you read it right - regnant - not pregnant.

So what does regnant mean - no it's not what happens to people when they produce offspring. Regnant is to exercise authority or rule.

The following is the official dictionary description of the word:
[reg-nuh nt]
–adjective
1. reigning; ruling (usually used following the noun it modifies): a queen regnant.
2. exercising authority, rule, or influence.
3. prevalent; widespread.
Origin:
1590–1600;  < Latin rēgnant-  (stem of rēgnāns ), present participle of regnāre  to rule; see reign, -ant


reg·nan·cy, noun
I'm not sure what attracted me to this word as the meaning and origin of the word is really not anything all that interesting. I think it's just the fact that the word is pregnant with the "p" removed. Interesting how adding a "p" to the beginning of this word completely changes it's meaning.
  
 







REGNANT 

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...