Other forms: sovereigns
A sovereign is a monarch, or a state that rules itself. The sovereign's consent, a sovereign state, sovereign debt.
The adjective is the working sense in politics: a sovereign state answers to no outside authority, and sovereignty is what treaties trade away in exchange for something. A sovereign was also a British gold coin worth a pound.
1nounsovereignA monarch.
“The sovereign opened parliament with a speech from the throne.”
2adjectiverulingRuling itself, answering to no outside power.
“After centuries of foreign rule, the island became a sovereign nation.”
sovereign is a ruler, or a quality of power.
Old French soverain comes from Vulgar Latin superanus, from super, above. The spelling was altered to suggest reign.
Latin
super — above
Vulgar Latin
*superānus
Old French
soverain
Middle English
sovereyn
English, today
sovereign
From Middle English sovereyn, from Old French soverain (whence also modern French souverain), from Vulgar Latin superānus (compare Italian sovrano, Spanish soberano) from Latin super (“above”). Spelling influenced by folk-etymology association with reign. a doublet of soprano, from the same Latin root via Italian. a doublet of souverain. See also suzerain, foreign.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA