Rex
name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A king, particularly in ancient Rome.
"And though the sturdy patrician nobility had already gained ground, though the reges attempted gradually to enlarge the scope of their functions—all this does not change the elementary and fundamental character of the constitution, and this alone is essential."
- 2 a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom wordnet
- 3 An animal which has a genetic recessive variation that causes the guard hairs to be very short or fully lacking.
- 1 To breed (an animal) to have this kind of hair. transitive
- 1 The reigning king. formal
- 2 A male given name from Latin coined in the nineteenth century from Latin rex "king," rarely given today.
- 3 A popular name for a dog.
- 4 An unincorporated community in Clayton County, Georgia, United States.
- 5 A census-designated place in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States.
Example
More examples"You named your dog Rex, didn't you?"
Etymology
From Latin rēx (“king”), referring originally to rabbits of the Belgian "castorrex" breed, so named because their fur was similar to that of beavers. Entered English around 1920. Doublet of rajah and roy.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs Proto-Italic *rēks Latin rēxbor. English Rex From Latin rēx (“king”). Doublet of rajah and roy.
Related phrases
More for "rex"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.