sceptre

See also: Sceptre

English

Pedro II holding a sceptre.

Alternative forms

• scepter (US)

Etymology

From Middle English septre, sceptre, from Old French sceptre, from Latin scēptrum, from Ancient Greek σκῆπτρον (skêptron, “staff, stick, baton”), from σκήπτω (skḗptō, “to prop, to support, to lean upon a staff”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛptə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛptɚ/
• Hyphenation: scep‧tre

Noun

sceptre (plural sceptres)

1. (British spelling) An ornamental staff held by a ruling monarch as a symbol of power.

   Synonyms: golden wand, royal wand

   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 11:

     “Divine receptacle of excellence, let it not be deemed impertinent, or deviating from the rules of propriety, if I propound one queſtion which now labours in my breaſt; aſſuring me firſt, you will not let the ſceptre of true judgment depart from your right hand.”

   • 1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book I.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 3:

     To the fleet he came / Bearing rich ranſom glorious to redeem / His daughter, and his hands charged with the wreath / And golden ſceptre of the God shaft-arm’d.

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, “The Young King”, in A House of Pomegranates, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine & Co […], →OCLC, page 6:

     But what had occupied him most was the robe he was to wear at his coronation, the robe of tissued gold, and the ruby-studded crown, and the sceptre with its rows and rings of pearls.

Derived terms

• meat sceptre
• was-sceptre

 

Translations

ornamental staff

• Akkadian: 𒄑𒉺 (hattu)
• Arabic: صَوْلَجَان (ṣawlajān)
• Armenian: գավազան (hy) (gavazan), գայիսոն (hy) (gayison)
• Asturian: cetru (ast) m
• Belarusian: скі́петр m (skípjetr), жазло́ n (žazló)
• Bulgarian: же́зъл (bg) m (žézǎl), скиптър (bg) m (skiptǎr)
• Catalan: ceptre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 權杖／权杖 (zh) (quánzhàng)

• Czech: žezlo (cs) n
• Danish: scepter (da) c
• Dutch: scepter (nl) m
• Esperanto: sceptro
• Estonian: skepter
• Faroese: veldisstavur m, kongsstavur m
• Finnish: valtikka (fi)
• French: sceptre (fr) m
• Galician: cetro m
• Georgian: კვერთხი (ḳvertxi)
• German: Zepter (de) n or m, Szepter (de) n or m (Austria)
• Greek: σκήπτρο (el) n (skíptro)

  Ancient: σκῆπτρον n (skêptron)

• Hebrew: שַׁרְבִיט (he) m (sharvít)
• Hungarian: jogar (hu)
• Italian: scettro (it) m
• Japanese: 王笏 (おうしゃく, ōshaku)
• Korean: 왕홀 (wanghol)
• Latin: sceptrum n, baculum
• Latvian: scepteris m
• Lithuanian: skeptras m
• Macedonian: жезол m (žezol)
• Malayalam: ചെങ്കോൽ (ml) (ceṅkōl)
• Maori: hepeta
• Norwegian: septer m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: жьзлъ m (žĭzlŭ)

• Old English: cyneġierd f
• Ottoman Turkish: عصا (ʼasa)
• Plautdietsch: Zepta m
• Polish: berło (pl) n
• Portuguese: cetro (pt)
• Romanian: sceptru (ro)
• Russian: ски́петр (ru) m (skípetr), жезл (ru) m (žezl)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жезло n

  Roman: žezlo (sh) n

• Slovak: žezlo (sk) n
• Slovene: žezlo (sl) n
• Spanish: cetro (es) m
• Sumerian: 𒄑𒉺 (^gišGIDRU, ^gišPA)
• Swahili: fimbo ya kifalme
• Swedish: spira (sv) c
• Tagalog: setro
• Thai: คทา (th) (ká-taa)
• Turkish: hükümdar asası
• Ukrainian: скі́петр (uk) m (skípetr), бе́рло (uk) n (bérlo), жезл (uk) m (žezl)

Verb

sceptre (third-person singular simple present sceptres, present participle sceptring, simple past and past participle sceptred)

1. To give a sceptre to.
   • 1713, Thomas Tickell, On the Prospect of Peace:

     To Britain's queen the sceptred suppliant bends.

2. (figurative) To invest with royal power.

Anagrams

• recepts, respect, scepter, specter, spectre

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scēptrum, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek σκῆπτρον (skêptron).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛptʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

sceptre m (plural sceptres)

1. sceptre

Further reading

• “sceptre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.