Phrase guide

empress dowager

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The mother or widow of an emperor, especially in a Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese empire.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: إِمْبِرَاطُورَة الأُمّ — mother of an emperor
  • Catalan: emperadriu vídua — mother of an emperor
  • Chinese Mandarin: 皇太后 (huángtàihòu) — mother of an emperor
  • Chinese Mandarin: 太后 (tàihòu) — mother of an emperor
  • Finnish: leskikeisarinna — mother of an emperor
  • French: impératrice douairière — mother of an emperor
  • German: Kaiserinmutter — mother of an emperor
  • Indonesian: janda permaisuri — mother of an emperor
  • Italian: imperatrice vedova — mother of an emperor
  • Japanese: 皇太后 (kōtaigō) — mother of an emperor
  • Japanese: 太后 (taikō) — mother of an emperor
  • Japanese: 母后 — mother of an emperor
  • Korean: 황태후 (hwangtaehu) — mother of an emperor
  • Korean: 태후 (taehu) — mother of an emperor
  • Korean: 모후 (mohu) — mother of an emperor
  • Polish: cesarzowa wdowa — mother of an emperor
  • Russian: вдо́вствующая императри́ца (vdóvstvujuščaja imperatríca) — mother of an emperor
  • Spanish: emperatriz viuda — mother of an emperor
  • Swedish: änkedrottning — mother of an emperor
  • Swedish: drottningmoder — mother of an emperor
  • Thai: ฮองไทเฮา — mother of an emperor
  • Vietnamese: hoàng thái hậu — mother of an emperor
  • Vietnamese: thái hậu — mother of an emperor