pharaoh

pha·raoh
P3H4A1R1A1O1H4
Australia, UK/ˈfɛː.ɹəʊ/Australia, UK/ˈfɛə.ɹəʊ/US/ˈfɛɹ(ˌ)oʊ/US, uncommon/ˈfeɪ(ˌ)ɹoʊ/

noun

The supreme ruler of Ancient Egypt; a formal address for the sovereign seat of power as personified by the "king" in an institutional role of Horus son of Osiris; often used by metonymy for Ancient Egyptian sovereignty

“Instances: see Thesaurus:pharaoh”

Similar
pharaoh of Egypt
OriginMiddle English pharao ← Old English Pharao ← Late Latin Pharaō →
Less commonScrabble 15
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Meanings

pharaoh1

nounpharaoh (countable and uncountable, plural pharaohs)

plural pharaohs · alternative Pharaoh · alternative pharao · alternative pharaon

  1. countablehistoricaluncountableThe supreme ruler of Ancient Egypt; a formal address for the sovereign seat of power as personified by the "king" in an institutional role of Horus son of Osiris; often used by metonymy for Ancient Egyptian sovereignty

    Instances: see Thesaurus:pharaoh

    1 more example

    And the Egyptians ſhall know that I am the Lord, when I haue gotten me honour vpon Pharaoh, vpon his charets, and vpon his horſemen.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 14:18, column 1
  2. uncountablecard gamesThe card game faro.

    "I pray, when I play pharaoh at White's, that the cards fall as they have come to my hand in this large gamble," Anstis said.

    1945, Robert Hardy Andrews, Burning gold

Pharaoh2

proper noun
  1. Any specific pharaoh.

    And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 14:18
nounPharaoh (plural Pharaohs)

plural Pharaohs

  1. Alternative letter-case form of pharaoh.

Synonyms & antonyms

Broader
ruler
Narrower
pharaohess

nounthe title of the ancient Egyptian kings

Similar
pharaoh of Egypt
Broader
rulerswayer
Also see
faro

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Egyptianpr:aA“palace; pharaoh”
  2. Biblical Hebrewפַּרְעֹה
  3. Koine GreekΦαραώ
  4. Late LatinPharaō
  5. Old EnglishPharao
  6. Middle Englishpharao
  7. Englishpharaoh

From Middle English pharao (also as pharaon, farao, faraon, etc.), from Old English Pharao, from Late Latin Pharaō, from Koine Greek Φαραώ (Pharaṓ), from Biblical Hebrew פַּרְעֹה (Parʿō), from Egyptian pr:aA (pr-ꜥꜣ, “palace; pharaoh”, literally “pr (“house”) + ꜥꜣ (“great, big”)”)

More words from Middle English, Old English, Late Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek Φαραώ, Φαραών
  • Φαραώ (Pharaṓ)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
  • Φαραών (Pharaṓn)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Arabic فِرْعَوْن
  • فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Bengali ফারাও, ফেরাউন
  • ফারাও (pharaō)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
  • ফেরাউন (pheraun)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Bulgarian фарао́н
  • фарао́н (faraón)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Catalan faraó
  • faraósupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Chinese Cantonese 法老, 法老王
  • 法老 (faat³ lou⁵)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
  • 法老王supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Chinese Mandarin 法老, 法老王
  • 法老 (fǎlǎo)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
  • 法老王supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Czech faraon, farao
  • faraonsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
  • faraosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Danish farao
  • faraosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Dutch farao
  • faraosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Esperanto faraono
  • faraonosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Estonian vaarao
  • vaaraosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Finnish faarao
  • faaraosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
French pharaon
  • pharaonsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
German Pharao, Pharaonin
  • Pharaosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
  • Pharaoninsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Greek Φαραώ, φαραώ
  • Φαραώ (Faraó)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
  • φαραώ (faraó)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Hebrew פַּרְעֹה
  • פַּרְעֹה (par'ó)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Hindi फ़िरौन
  • फ़िरौन (firaun)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Hungarian fáraó
  • fáraósupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Icelandic faraó
  • faraósupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Indonesian firaun
  • firaunsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Italian faraone
  • faraonesupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Japanese ファラオ
  • ファラオ (farao)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Korean 파라오
  • 파라오 (parao)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Latin pharaō
  • pharaōsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Latvian faraons
  • faraonssupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Lithuanian faraonas
  • faraonassupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Malay firaun
  • firaunsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Māori pārao
  • pāraosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Norwegian farao
  • faraosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Persian فرعون
  • فرعون (fer'own)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Polish faraon
  • faraonsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Portuguese faraó
  • faraósupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Punjabi ਫਰਾਓਹੋ
  • ਫਰਾਓਹੋ (pharāoho)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Romanian faraon
  • faraonsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Russian фарао́н
  • фарао́н (faraón)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Slovak faraón
  • faraónsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Spanish faraón
  • faraónsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Swahili firauni
  • firaunisupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Swedish farao
  • faraosupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Tagalog paraon
  • paraonsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Thai ฟาโรห์
  • ฟาโรห์ (faa-roo)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Turkish firavun
  • firavunsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Ukrainian фарао́н
  • фарао́н (faraón)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Urdu فرعون
  • فرعون (fir'aun)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Vietnamese pha-ra-ông
  • pha-ra-ôngsupreme ruler of ancient Egypt
Yiddish פּרעה
  • פּרעה (pare)supreme ruler of ancient Egypt

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

faroFaroefarrowFerro (only in accents with the Mary-marry-merry merger)

Anagrams

pharoah
Cite this entry
APA

pharaoh. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pharaoh

MLA

“pharaoh.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pharaoh. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pharaoh,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pharaoh.

Source: pharaoh on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.