Kaiser

//ˈkaɪzɚ// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of Kaiser. alt-of, alternative
  2. 2
    An emperor of a German-speaking country, particularly the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806), the Austrian Empire/Austria-Hungary (1806–1918), or the German Empire (1871–1918) — often specifically Wilhelm II.
  3. 3
    the title of the Holy Roman Emperors or the emperors of Austria or of Germany until 1918 wordnet
  4. 4
    Any emperor or autocrat, or one who attempts to be one. broadly

    "And Black Ivo is a veritable Kaiser."

  5. 5
    A Kaiser roll: a round, pinwheel-shaped roll.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
ardribeycaciquecaesarchamczar

Example

More examples

"The Kaiser asked Theodore Roosevelt to intervene."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English kayser, from Old High German keisar (“emperor”), from Proto-West Germanic *kaisar, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz. The native Old English descendant of that Proto-Germanic word was cāser (“emperor”), but the shape of Middle English kayser (“emperor”) (versus the expected *caser, *coser) suggests it was borrowed from another Germanic language rather than inherited, and the modern English spelling and sense seem to be modified after modern German rather than a direct continuation of Middle English. Compare tsar, which was borrowed from Slavic. Doublet of Caesar and tsar.

Related phrases

Kaiser Wilhelm II Landaustrian empiregerman empireholy roman empirekaiser roll

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.