English edit

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈkwiːnli/
  • (file)

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English queenly, quenly, from Old English cwēnlīċ, equivalent to queen +‎ -ly.

Adjective edit

queenly (comparative queenlier, superlative queenliest)

  1. Having the status, rank or qualities of a queen; regal.
    • 1860, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], The Mill on the Floss [], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:
      So Maggie, glad of anything that would soothe her mother, and cheer their long day together, consented to the vain decoration, and showed a queenly head above her old frocks, steadily refusing, however, to look at herself in the glass.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, [], →OCLC:
      There was an innate refinement, a languid queenly hauteur about Gerty which was unmistakably evidenced in her delicate hands and higharched instep.
    • 2018, Queen True, “A Royal Stink”, in True and the Rainbow Kingdom:
      I'm so sorry. If I'd done my queenly duties right, none of this would have happened. But maybe I can fix it with some wish help.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

From queen +‎ -ly.

Adverb edit

queenly (comparative queenlier, superlative queenliest)

  1. In a queenly manner; regally.
Synonyms edit