tsar

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Latin Caesarbor. Proto-Germanic *kaisarazder. Proto-Slavic *cěsařь Old East Slavic цѣсарь (cěsarĭ) Old East Slavic цьсарь (cĭsarĭ) Russian царь (carʹ)bor. English tsar Borrowed from Russian царь (carʹ), from Old East Slavic цьсарь (cĭsarĭ), from Proto-Slavic *cěsařь, from a Germanic language, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz, from Latin Caesar. Doublet of Caesar and Kaiser. The spelling tsar began to replace the older czar in the nineteenth century. Compare Byzantine Greek Τζαῖσαρ (Tzaîsar).

1. An emperor of Russia (1547 to 1917) and of some South Slavic states.

   “[W]hy, in the name of common sense, should the English call the Czar (tsar) of Russia razc?”

   “I vuz never beink too krazy about any of dose tsari.”

2. A person with great power; an autocrat.

   “Chin Chien-shih, an old poor peasant of Korean nationality, said: "The wolfish ambition of the new tsars is exactly the same as that of the old tsars. The Soviet revisionist renegade clique is struggling desperately in the hope of saving itself from doom, but this will only bring on its destruction more quickly."”