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underking

noun

  1. An inferior or subordinate king; a viceroy.

    From the Johore capital on the island of Pulau Penyengat in the Riau Archipelago, where Parani's brother became "underking" to a puppet Malay sultan, the Bugis extended their control over the tin negeri of Kedah and Perak, [...]

Where it comes from

From Middle English underking, from Old English undercing, undercyning (“under-king, viceroy”), possibly from Proto-West Germanic *underkuning, from Proto-Germanic *underkuningaz, equivalent to under- + king. Cognate with Dutch onderkoning (“viceroy”), German Unterkönig (“underking”), Danish underkonge (“underking”), Swedish underkung (“underking”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry underking (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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