From Old English 'cyning' (man of the people), from PIE *genh1- — same birth-root as 'kin,' 'kind,' and 'gene.'
The male ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth.
From Old English 'cyning' (king, ruler), from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz, probably derived from *kunja (kin, family, race) with the suffix *-ingaz (belonging to, descended from), giving a literal meaning of 'son of the kin' or 'one who belongs to the noble family.' The PIE root is *genh₁- (to beget, give birth), one of the most important roots in the language family, also yielding 'kin,' 'kind' (originally 'natural, native'), 'kindergarten' (via German), 'gentle' and 'genus' (via Latin 'gens'), 'gene' and 'genesis' (via Greek 'genos'), 'nature' (via Latin 'nasci,' to be born, from *genh₁-), and 'nation' (via Latin 'natio,' birth, people). The Germanic concept of kingship was originally elective rather than purely hereditary — the king was chosen from among the eligible kin-group, a practice preserved in Scandinavian 'thing' assemblies. Old Norse 'konungr,' German