tsar

T1S1A1R1
UK/(t)sɑː/UK/zɑː/US/(t)sɑɹ/US/zɑɹ/

noun

An emperor of Russia (1547 to 1917) and of some South Slavic states.

Similar
Less commonScrabble 4

Meanings

nountsar (plural tsars or (rare) tsari)

plural tsars · plural rare tsari · alternative czar · alternative tzar · alternative csar

  1. historicalAn emperor of Russia (1547 to 1917) and of some South Slavic states.

    I vuz never beink too krazy about any of dose tsari.

    1996 May 19, Jim Collier, “King Arthur Discoveries”, in soc.history.medieval (Usenet), archived from the original on 07 Jun 2025
    3 more examples

    [W]hy, in the name of common sense, should the English call the Czar (tsar) of Russia razc?

    1832 August 1, W. Barnes, “On the Origin of Language”, in Gentleman's Magazine, London, page 129

    >There IS a difference between the Russians as a group of people and Soviet communism! Ha ha ha! Know any other good ones? First their^([sic]) were the plain old tsari, then the red tsari (Stalin, etc) and know Putin is the 'new look' tsar. But the same beastly imperialist bullying goes on.

    2004 April 5, «Pas de deux», “Yes Virginia (Erin), there are bad people in the world, and formewr KGB head Valdimir Putin is one of them....”, in soc.culture.baltics (Usenet), archived from the original on 07 Jun 2025

    At that time Mongol princes faced the challenge of choosing from three options: either combine all their forces and fight against the Manchus, which were stronger and had taken over all of China at that time, or approach the Russian Tsari as did the Buryat and Khalmig Mongol princedoms or to follow the way of Inner Mongolia and accept relative autonomy given by the Manchu.

    Potsdam University Press

    2013, Kherlen Badarch, “Post-imperial Mongolia (1368–1691)”, in Integrating New Values into Mongolian Public Management (KWI-Gutachten; 8), Universitätsverlag Potsdam [Potsdam University Press], →ISBN, →ISSN, chapter 4 (Mongolian traditional legacy), section 4 (Mongolian statehood historic tradition), page 84
  2. figurativelyA person with great power; an autocrat.
    1 more example

    Chin Chien-shih, an old poor peasant of Korean nationality, said: "The wolfish ambition of the new tsars is exactly the same as that of the old tsars. The Soviet revisionist renegade clique is struggling desperately in the hope of saving itself from doom, but this will only bring on its destruction more quickly."

    1969 March 14 [1969 March 13], “Report from Border Areas”, in Daily Report: Foreign Radio Broadcasts, number 50, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Peking NCNA International Service, →OCLC, page A 6

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917)

Similar
Broader
sovereigncrowned headmonarch
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. LatinCaesar
  2. Proto-Germanic*kaisaraz
  3. Proto-Slavic*cěsařь
  4. Old East Slavicцѣсарь (cěsarĭ)
  5. Old East Slavicцьсарь (cĭsarĭ)
  6. Russianцарь (carʹ)
  7. Englishtsar

Borrowed from Russian царь (carʹ), from Old East Slavic цьсарь (cĭsarĭ), from Proto-Slavic *cěsařь, from a Germanic language, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar. Doublet of Caesar and Kaiser. The spelling tsar began to replace the older czar in the nineteenth century. Compare Medieval Greek Τζαῖσαρ (Tzaîsar).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans tsaar
  • tsaaran emperor
Arabic تْسَار, قَيْصَر
  • تْسَار (tsār)an emperor
  • قَيْصَر (qayṣar)an emperor
Bengali জার
  • জার (jar)an emperor
Bulgarian цар
  • цар (car)an emperor
Catalan tsar
  • tsaran emperor
Chinese Mandarin 沙皇, 察罕汗
  • 沙皇 (shāhuáng)an emperor
  • 察罕汗 (cháhǎnhán)an emperor
Czech car
  • caran emperor
Danish zar
  • zaran emperor
Dutch tsaar
  • tsaaran emperor
Esperanto caro, caro
  • caroan emperor
  • caroa person with great power; an autocrat
Estonian tsaar
  • tsaaran emperor
Finnish tsaari
  • tsaarian emperor
French tsar, tzar
  • tsaran emperor
  • tzaran emperor
German Zar
  • Zaran emperor
Greek τσάρος
  • τσάρος (tsáros)an emperor
Hebrew צָאר
  • צָאר (tsar)an emperor
Hindi ज़ार, त्सार
  • ज़ार (zār)an emperor
  • त्सार (tsār)an emperor
  • जार (jār)an emperor
Hungarian cár
  • cáran emperor
Icelandic tsar
  • tsaran emperor
Indonesian tsar
  • tsaran emperor
Irish sár
  • sáran emperor
Italian zar
  • zaran emperor
Japanese ツァーリ, ツァー
  • ツァーリ (tsāri)an emperor
  • ツァー (tsā)an emperor
  • ツァール (tsāru)an emperor
Korean 차르, 짜리
  • 차르 (chareu)an emperor
  • 짜리 (jjari)an emperor
Latvian cars
  • carsan emperor
Lithuanian caras
  • carasan emperor
Malay czar
  • czaran emperor
Norwegian Bokmål tsar
  • tsaran emperor
Polish car
  • caran emperor
Portuguese tsar, czar
  • tsaran emperor
  • czaran emperor
  • tzaran emperor
  • tsara person with great power; an autocrat
Romanian țar
  • țaran emperor
Russian царь, импера́тор
  • царь (carʹ)an emperor
  • импера́тор (imperátor)an emperor
  • царь (carʹ)a person with great power; an autocrat
  • коро́ль (korólʹ)a person with great power; an autocrat
Slovak cár
  • cáran emperor
Spanish zar
  • zaran emperor
Swahili czar
  • czaran emperor
Swedish tsar
  • tsaran emperor
Tagalog sar
  • saran emperor
Thai ซาร์
  • ซาร์ (saa)an emperor
Turkish çar
  • çaran emperor
Ukrainian цар
  • цар (car)an emperor
Urdu زار, تْسار
  • زار (zār)an emperor
  • تْسار (tsār)an emperor
  • تِسار (tisār)an emperor
Vietnamese sa hoàng, Nga hoàng
  • sa hoàngan emperor
  • Nga hoàngan emperor
Yiddish צאַר
  • צאַר (tsar)an emperor

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with tsar

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

Saar (one pronunciation)

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

tsar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tsar

MLA

“tsar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tsar. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tsar,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tsar.

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