Sultan
//ˈsʌltən// name, noun
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The holder of a secular office, formally subordinate to, but de facto the power behind the throne of, the caliph. countable, historical, uncountable
- 2 the ruler of a Muslim country (especially of the former Ottoman Empire) wordnet
- 3 A hereditary ruler in various Muslim states (sultanate), varying from petty principalities (as in Yemen), often vassal of a greater ruler, to independent realms, such as Oman, Brunei, Morocco (until 1957) or an empire such as the Turkish Ottoman Empire. countable, uncountable
"Here from the king's mountain view Here from the wild dream come true Feast like a sultan, I do On treasures and flesh never few"
- 4 A variant of solitaire, played with two decks of cards. uncountable
- 5 A breed of chicken originating in Turkey, kept primarily in gardens for ornamental reasons. See: sultan (chicken) countable, uncountable
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
- 2 A glacier in Antarctica
- 3 A village in Azerbaijan.
- 4 A coastal town in Libya.
- 5 An unincorporated community in Ontario.
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 A town, village and mountain range in Turkey.
- 7 A city and river in Washington.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Once the Sultan ruled over what today is Turkey."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French sultan or Medieval Latin sultanus, from Ottoman Turkish سلطان (sultan), from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān, “strength, authority, ruler”). Compare Hebrew שִׁלְטוֹן (shiltón) and סוּלְטָן (sultán). Doublet of soldan.
Related phrases
More for "sultan"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.