Fürst

See also: furst and Furst

German

Etymology

From Middle High German vürste, from Old High German furisto, from the substantivised weak inflection of Proto-West Germanic *furist, from Proto-Germanic *furistaz (“first”). Calque of Latin prī̆nceps.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʏɐ̯st/, /fʏʁst/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Fürst m (weak, genitive Fürsten, plural Fürsten, feminine Fürstin)

1. prince (sovereign prince)

Usage notes

• Fürst is the title held by the sovereign ruler of a principality or the head of a noble family. The (non-reigning) descendants of a reigning sovereign prince or other monarch hold the title of Prinz (“prince”) or Prinzessin (“princess”).

Declension

Declension of Fürst [masculine, weak]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Fürst	die	Fürsten
genitive	eines	des	Fürsten	der	Fürsten
dative	einem	dem	Fürsten	den	Fürsten
accusative	einen	den	Fürsten	die	Fürsten

Derived terms

• Fürst der Finsternis
• Fürstabt
• Fürstentum
• fürstlich
• Großfürst
• Kurfürst
• Landesfürst
• Reichsfürst

 

Descendants

• → Danish: fyrste
• → Estonian: vürst
• → Icelandic: fursti
• → Latvian: firsts
• → Swedish: furste

Further reading

• Fürst on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• “Fürst” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache