König

From Middle High German künec, from Old High German kuning (rarer kunig), from Proto-West Germanic *kuning, from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz.[1]

The development Old High German -ning → later -nig is regular (see Pfennig). The modern vocalism -ö- is chiefly Central and Low German; compare Middle Low German köninc, from Old Saxon kuning.

Cognate with Old Dutch kuning (whence Dutch koning), Old English cyning (whence English king), Old Norse konungr (whence e.g. Danish konge). The word was borrowed into non-Germanic languages in Proto-Germanic times: Finnish and Estonian kuningas, Russian князь (knjazʹ).

• IPA^(key): /ˈkøːnɪç/

  • Audio

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkøːnɪk/ (southern Germany, Austria)

  • Audio

    (file)

König m (strong, genitive Königes or Königs, plural Könige)

1. king (monarch, chess, card games)

• Together with proper nouns, the genitive can be König[e]s with uninflected proper noun (e.g. Königs Wilhelm) or less common uninflected König with inflected proper noun as if the noun König were part of a name (e.g. König Wilhelms).

Note: The long genitive form Königes lost popularity by the mid-19th century.

König m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Königs or (with an article) König, feminine genitive König, plural Königs)

1. a common surname transferred from the nickname

• “König” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “König” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “König” in Duden online
• König on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

• Köänig

Borrowed from Middle Low German kȫnnich, from Old Saxon kuning. Cognates include German Low German König. Doublet of Kening.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkøːnɪɣ/
• Hyphenation: Kö‧nig
• Rhymes: -øːnɪɣ

König m (plural [please provide])

1. king

• Kening

• Marron C. Fort (2015) “Kening”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN