Seigneur

//sɛˈnjɝ// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A feudal lord or noble in French contexts.

    ""Then you're not - " "Darling," I said, "do you really see me in the position of a seigneur, driving my serfs and villeins before me with a whip - even if the triffids haven't overrun me first?""

  2. 2
    a man of rank in the ancient regime wordnet
  3. 3
    The hereditary feudal ruler of Sark.

    "Beaumont lives on Sark, a small, autonomous island twenty-five miles off the coast of Normandy, with her husband, Michael, the island's seigneur."

  4. 4
    A landowner in Canada; the holder of a seigneurie. Canada
  5. 5
    A hereditary title in the Bailiwick of Jersey.

Example

More examples

""Then you're not - " "Darling," I said, "do you really see me in the position of a seigneur, driving my serfs and villeins before me with a whip - even if the triffids haven't overrun me first?""

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor. Doublet of seignior, senhor, senior, señor, senyor, signore, sir, and sire.

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