queen
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kweenIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkwin
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites; its function is to lay eggs
A woman whose pre-eminence, power, or forcefulness is comparable to that of a queen.
The wife or widow of a king
A female sovereign ruler
Something regarded as the greatest of its kind or as having pre-eminence or power comparable to that of a queen over a given area.
Alternative letter-case form of queen ("female monarch").
verb
Become a queen
transitive
To make a queen or (figuratively) to give the status of a queen.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites; its function is to lay eggs
Used this way, queen is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A borough of New York City.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An inlet of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia.
The largest city in North Carolina.
The wife of a reigning king.
The widow of a king.
Act like the master of.
A region of Antarctica between Enderby Land and the Weddell Sea.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Counsel to the Crown when the British monarch is a queen.
A cantilever bridge across the East River between Manhattan and Queens.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “queen” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary in short rounds that draw from words you've learned and saved.
Want to type words like this one without looking at the keyboard? Each typing round draws from words you've learned, saved or need to review. Follow the free Learn to Type lessons and type your own vocabulary with confidence.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.