A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. Prince is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. A prince may also mean the next monarch who will be crowned after the reign of the current monarch stops, hence also the son of the current monarch in states with a hereditary monarchy. The feminine equivalent is a princess. The English word derives, via the French word prince, from the Latin noun prīncepscode: lat promoted to code: la , from primuscode: lat promoted to code: la (first) and capiocode: lat promoted to code: la (to seize), meaning "the first, foremost, the chief, most distinguished, noble ruler, prince".
