czar

See tsar. The spelling czar, the older spelling in English, comes from the book Notes on Muscovite Affairs (1549) by Sigismund von Herberstein. It was supplanted by the alternative tsar in the 19th century.

• IPA^(key): /zɑː(ɹ)/, /t͡sɑː(ɹ)/, /t͡ʃɑːɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

czar (plural czars)

1. Alternative spelling of tsar (especially common in American English)
   • 1555, Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, translated by Richard Eden, The decades of the newe worlde or west India‎^[1], London: William Powell, page 290:

     Note therfore that Czar in the Ruthens tounge signifieth a kynge, wheras in the language of the Slauons, Pollons, Bohemes, and other, the same woorde Czar, signifieth Cesar by whiche name Themperours haue byn commonly cauled.

   • 2016 December 12, Editorial Team, “Editorial: Trump, Putin and the risks of a reset”, in Chicago Tribune‎^[2], archived from the original on 13 December 2016:

     To understand Russia, you have to dive deep into its history — boyars and czars, Pushkin and Pasternak, Stalin and Stalingrad.

2. (informal, US politics, Philippine politics) An appointed official tasked to regulate or oversee a specific area.

   drug czar

   cyberczar

   • 2020 May 8, Jayne O'Donnell, “'Deaths of despair': Coronavirus pandemic could push suicide, drug deaths as high as 150k, study says”, in USA Today‎^[3], archived from the original on 9 May 2020:

     The federal mental health czar is calling for more money to expand services to help people suffering amid the social isolation imposed by the coronavirus pandemic […]

• Racz, Z-car, z car

Borrowed from Russian царь (carʹ).

• IPA^(key): /tsaʁ/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

czar m (plural czars)

1. archaic spelling of tsar

• “czar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʂar/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ar
• Syllabification: czar

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *čarъ.

• car (Lasovia)

czar m inan

1. spell (magic)

   Synonyms: zaklęcie, urok

2. allure, charm (quality of inspiring delight or admiration)

   Synonym: urok

3. (in the plural) sorcery (magical power)

   Synonym: magia

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

czar f

1. genitive plural of czara

• czar in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• czar in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Wanda Decyk-Zięba, editor (2018-2022), “czar”, in Dydaktyczny Słownik Etymologiczno-historyczny Języka Polskiego [A Didactic, Historical, Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), →ISBN

• tsar, tzar
• csar (rare)

Borrowed from French czar. Doublet of César and kaiser.

• Hyphenation: czar

czar m (plural czares, feminine czarina, feminine plural czarinas)

1. tsar (emperor of Russia)

• “czar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “czar”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “czar”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “czar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025