Fürst

' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German word for a ruler as well as a princely title. ' were, starting in the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ruled over states of the Holy Roman Empire and later its former territories, below the ruling ' (emperor) or ' (king).

A prince of the Holy Roman Empire was the sovereign ruler of an imperial estate that held imperial immediacy in the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory ruled is referred to in German as a ' (principality), the family dynasty referred to as a ' (princely house), and the (non-reigning) descendants of a ' are titled and referred to in German as ' (prince) or ' (princess).

The English language uses the term "prince" for both concepts. Latin-based languages (French, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese) also employ a single term, whereas Dutch as well as the Scandinavian and some Slavic languages use separate terms similar to those used in German (see ' for the latter).

An East-Asian parallel to the concept of "ruling prince" would be the Sino-Xenic word 王 (pronounced ''wáng'' in Mandarin, ''wong⁴'' in Cantonese, ''ō'' in Japanese, ''wang'' in Korean, and ''vương'' in Vietnamese), which commonly refers to Korean and non-East-Asian "kings", but usually means non-imperial monarchs (who would go by 皇帝 ("emperor") instead) in ancient China, and therefore is frequently translated to "prince", especially for those who became rulers well after to the first adoption of the title 皇帝 by Qin Shi Huang. On the other hand, the son of a monarch would go by different titles, such as 皇子 ("imperial son") or 王子 ("royal son").

From the Middle Ages on, the German designation and title of ' referred to:

* rulers of the states that made up the Holy Roman Empire, below the ruling ' (emperor) or ' (king); * members of the nobility above the rank of ' (count) but below '''' (duke); * a ruler or monarch (in general). Provided by Wikipedia