Etymology

governante

G2O1V4E1R1N1A1N1T1E1

Today it means: A female ruler or regent. Full definition →

First used 16th–20th c.Dutch gouvernante ← Middle French gouvernante
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Middle French · derived fromgouvernante
  2. Dutch · derived fromgouvernante
  3. English todaygovernante

From Dutch gouvernante, and its source, Middle French gouvernante. Compare govern.

First known use, by meaning

  • 16th–20th c. A female ruler or regent.
  • from 17th c. A woman in charge of someone else, especially a child or young woman; a governess.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.