Princehood

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The rank, title or status held by a male member of a royal family who is not a king
2. The condition of being a prince, including the title and the position it carries within a royal house
3. The status or dignity that belongs to a royal son, a prince of a reigning or former ruling family

Etymology: "Princehood" is a plain compound: "prince" with the suffix "-hood", which turns a noun into one meaning the state, rank, or condition of being that noun. The suffix is the same one found in "childhood" and "manhood", and "princehood" follows that pattern exactly: the rank or status of a prince. The word was already in use in Middle English, where spellings such as "pryncehood," "princehode," and "princehed" appear, showing the same formation was in place centuries before the modern spelling settled. "Prince" itself came into English from Old French, which took it from Latin "princeps," meaning "first" or "chief," so the word's core idea is primacy rather than royalty as such. Read that way, "princehood" names the condition of holding a place at the front.