1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Queen

QUEEN (O.E. cwen, wife, related to “quean,” O.E. cwene, a hussy; cf. Gr. γυνή: from root gan-, to produce; cf. genus, “kin,” &c.), the title of the consort or wife of a king (“queen consort”), or of a woman who is herself the sovereign ruler of a state (“queen regnant”); the widow of a former reigning sovereign is a “queen dowager,” and, when the mother of the reigning sovereign, a “queen mother.”

For the position of the queen in English constitutional law see Consort, and for her household see Household, Royal.