# royalty

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɹɔɪəlti/ · frequency rank #9,666

## Definitions
1. The rank, status, power or authority of a monarch.
2. People of royal rank, plus their families, treated as a group.
3. A royal right or prerogative, such as the exploitation of a natural resource; the granting of such a right; payment received for such a right.
4. The payment received by an owner of real property for exploitation of mineral rights in the property.
5. Payment made to a writer, composer, inventor etc for the sale or use of intellectual property, invention etc.
6. To make more money from a book than it cost to run an advertising campaign for it; to make enough in royalties to cover the advance a book received.
7. Someone in a privileged position.
8. A king and a queen as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em.
9. The bounds of a royal burgh.

## Etymology
From Middle English royaltee, roialtee, royalte, from Old French roialté, roiauté, realté (compare earlier Old French realted (“realm, kingdom”)), from Vulgar Latin *rēgālitās, from Latin rēgālis, equivalent to royal + -ty. Doublet of regality.

## Easily confused with
- **royal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/royal-vs-royalty)
- **Royals** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/royals-vs-royalty)
- **royale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/royale-vs-royalty)
- **realty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/realty-vs-royalty)
- **royally** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/royally-vs-royalty)

## Common misspellings (11)
`oryalty`, `roaylty`, `royallty`, `royaltty`, `royaltyy`, `royalyt`, `royatly`, `roylaty`, `royyalty`, `rroyalty`, `ryoalty`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/royalty