Meanings
plural viceroys · alternative vice-roi
- One who governs a country, province, or colony as the representative of a monarch.
Ireland was governed by a Viceroy representing the English King/Queen when it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
2 more examples
The Viceroy's on board - tends to liven things up.
1980, David Lean, A Screenplay of E.M. Forster's A Passage to India, Script City, page 2Mike Davis, a former Senate GOP staffer on Supreme Court nominations and current “viceroy” of Trumpworld, wrote that Alito was “gleefully packing up his chambers” after the 2024 election.
2025 July 20, John Bowden, “Why two justices could hand Republicans their own ‘Ginsburg moment’ next year”, in The Independent - A zongdu.
- An orange and black North American butterfly (Limenitis archippus), so named because it is similar to, but smaller than, the monarch butterfly.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOne who governs a country, province, or colony as the representative of a monarch.
More synonyms by meaning
nounshowy American butterfly resembling the monarch but smaller
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Frenchvice-roy
- Englishviceroy
From Middle French vice-roy, from vice- + roy (“king”). Compare viscount.
More words from Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic نَائِب
- نَائِب (nāʔib)governor of a country
Bulgarian вицекрал
- вицекрал (vicekral)governor of a country
Catalan virrei
- virreigovernor of a country
Chinese Mandarin 總督 /总督, 督撫 /督抚
- 總督 /总督 (zǒngdū)governor of a country
- 督撫 /督抚 (dūfǔ)governor of a country
Czech místokrál
- místokrálgovernor of a country
Danish vicekonge
- vicekongegovernor of a country
Dutch onderkoning
- onderkoninggovernor of a country
Esperanto vicreĝo
- vicreĝogovernor of a country
Finnish varakuningas
- varakuningasgovernor of a country
French vice-roi
- vice-roigovernor of a country
German Vizekönig
- Vizeköniggovernor of a country
Hungarian alkirály
- alkirálygovernor of a country
Indonesian wazir, wizurai
- wazirgovernor of a country
- wizuraigovernor of a country
- raja mudagovernor of a country
- wakil mahkotagovernor of a country
- wakil rajagovernor of a country
Irish fear ionaid an rí, fear ionaid rí
- fear ionaid an rígovernor of a country
- fear ionaid rígovernor of a country
- leasrígovernor of a country
- ionadaí rígovernor of a country
Italian viceré
- vicerégovernor of a country
Japanese 総督, 副王
- 総督 (sōtoku)governor of a country
- 副王 (fukuō)governor of a country
- バイスロイ (baisuroi)governor of a country
Malay wizurai, uparaja (of Majapahit etc.)
- wizuraigovernor of a country
- uparaja (of Majapahit etc.)governor of a country
Norwegian Bokmål visekonge
- visekongegovernor of a country
Polish wicekról, wicekról
- wicekrólgovernor of a country
- wicekrólbutterfly
Portuguese vice-rei
- vice-reigovernor of a country
Romanian vicerege
- viceregegovernor of a country
Russian вице-коро́ль
- вице-коро́ль (vice-korólʹ)governor of a country
Slovak miestokráľ
- miestokráľgovernor of a country
Spanish virrey
- virreygovernor of a country
Swedish vicekung, vicekonung
- vicekunggovernor of a country
- vicekonunggovernor of a country
Tagalog birey
- bireygovernor of a country
Thai อุปราช
- อุปราช (ùp-bpà-ràat)governor of a country
Turkish naip, kral naibi
- naipgovernor of a country
- kral naibigovernor of a country
Ukrainian віце-коро́ль
- віце-коро́ль (vice-korólʹ)governor of a country
Cite this entry
viceroy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viceroy
“viceroy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viceroy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “viceroy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viceroy.
Source: viceroy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.