sultan

noun

sul·​tan ˈsəl-tᵊn How to pronounce sultan (audio)
: a king or sovereign especially of a Muslim state
sultanic adjective

Examples of sultan in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Attracting everyone from sultans and princes to Charlie Caplin and Winston Churchill in its glory days, Impérial Palace is still the place to be more than a century later—and the views don’t get better than the top floor Imperial Suite, where a terrace shows off 360-degree vistas of Lake Annecy. Lane Nieset, Travel + Leisure, 22 June 2025 Following his armies’ conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman sultan Mehmed II famously transformed the Hagia Sophia, built as a Christian church, into a mosque. Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 24 May 2025 Others see the three circles and two wavy lines as a symbol of the three continents and two seas ruled by the sultans—Europe, Asia and Africa, and the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. Dorothy Armstrong june 18, Literary Hub, 18 June 2025 There remains a deep local respect for the sultan, however, even if it is not always captured in elite perspectives. Jon Emont, Foreign Affairs, 9 June 2015 See All Example Sentences for sultan

Word History

Etymology

Middle French, from Arabic sulṭān

First Known Use

1555, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of sultan was in 1555

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sultan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sultan. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

sultan

noun
sul·​tan ˈsəlt-ᵊn How to pronounce sultan (audio)
: a king or ruler especially of a Muslim state

More from Merriam-Webster on sultan

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