Underking
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An inferior or subordinate king; a viceroy.
"From the Johore capital on the island of Pulau Penyengat in the Riau Archipelago, where Parani's brother became "underking" to a puppet Malay sultan, the Bugis extended their control over the tin negeri of Kedah and Perak, [...]"
Example
More examples"From the Johore capital on the island of Pulau Penyengat in the Riau Archipelago, where Parani's brother became "underking" to a puppet Malay sultan, the Bugis extended their control over the tin negeri of Kedah and Perak, [...]"
Etymology
From Middle English underking, from Old English undercing, undercyning (“under-king, viceroy”), possibly from Proto-West Germanic *underkuning, from Proto-Germanic *underkuningaz, equivalent to under- + king. Cognate with Dutch onderkoning (“viceroy”), German Unterkönig (“underking”), Danish underkonge (“underking”), Swedish underkung (“underking”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.