Learn English with The Crown: 25 signature words
The show's signature vocabulary: the 25 words it uses far more than the average popular TV show, each with a line where it's said.
The Crown's words come from two places: a constitution and a drawing room. The show is an argument about who may do what, so monarchy, sovereign, coronation, abdication and investiture come up the way meetings come up in an office, and equerry and courtier name the people who carry the paperwork between them. The rest of the list is simply how this family talks, which is why darling, jolly, ghastly, dreary and marvelous sit beside the throne. A viewer who knows these 25 words is hearing the argument rather than the accents.
The Crown has 531 signature words, words it uses far more often than TV in general. These are the 25 strongest.
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1
monarchy
Rule by a king or queen, and the royal institution itself, which is what everyone here is arguing about.
I have seen three great monarchies brought down through their failure to separate personal indulgences from duty.
Season 1, episode 2. Said 97 times in 26 episodes, 436x the average show.
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2
darling
An affectionate term of address, used here the way other people use a first name.
Come on, darling, Daddy's busy. Come and start again.
Season 1, episode 1. Said 127 times in 43 episodes, 11x the average show.
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3
sovereign
The reigning king or queen, the person in whom the authority of the state rests.
As sovereign, you have the right to demand that a government in your name shows effective leadership.
Season 1, episode 4. Said 51 times in 24 episodes, 122x the average show.
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4
coronation
The ceremony at which a new monarch is crowned, here Elizabeth II's in 1953.
A long period between accession and coronation was of great value to your father.
Season 1, episode 3. Said 40 times in 10 episodes, 93x the average show.
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5
abdication
A monarch's formal giving up of the throne, here the 1936 one that put this family on it.
That was the final box I received as King. It contained my abdication papers.
Season 1, episode 5. Said 22 times in 13 episodes, 464x the average show.
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6
throne
The position of king or queen, spoken of as the seat it is inherited with.
Princess Margaret, third in line for the throne of Britain, now 25 and legally in control of her own destiny.
Season 1, episode 10. Said 51 times in 29 episodes, 11x the average show.
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7
yacht
A boat kept for pleasure rather than for work, here most often the royal yacht Britannia.
I mean, for instance, we had a small yacht, which we have had to sell.
Season 3, episode 4. Said 40 times in 7 episodes, 21x the average show.
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8
monarch
The king or queen themselves, as against the monarchy they head.
As Monarch, one receives a daily red box from the government.
Season 1, episode 5. Said 28 times in 16 episodes, 68x the average show.
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9
investiture
A ceremony that formally gives someone a title or an honour.
We welcome you here to this royal principality of Wales, where eager crowds await the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales on this historic day.
Season 3, episode 6. Said 15 times in 8 episodes, 2240x the average show.
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10
engagement
An appointment to be somewhere at a set time, here the official duties that fill a royal diary.
Unless you have more pressing engagements?
Season 1, episode 4. Said 36 times in 19 episodes, 9.3x the average show.
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11
sympathy
Feeling for someone else's trouble, and also agreement with a view someone holds.
Having experienced the conditions, do you have sympathy for the miners that work there?
Season 1, episode 8. Said 30 times in 22 episodes, 14x the average show.
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12
equerry
An officer of the royal household who attends and travels with a member of the family.
There are three equerries to Her Majesty within the palace, one of them also performing the role of Deputy Master of the Household.
Season 4, episode 3. Said 9 times in 5 episodes, 4118x the average show.
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13
constitutional
Belonging to the rules by which a country is governed, here the limits on what a queen may do.
Well, as sovereign, of course, there is nothing you can do from a constitutional standpoint.
Season 1, episode 2. Said 19 times in 11 episodes, 27x the average show.
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14
jolly
A very British intensifier meaning very, as in jolly good and jolly cold.
It's jolly powerful, that light, isn't it?
Season 3, episode 4. Said 17 times in 12 episodes, 29x the average show.
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15
heir
The person who will inherit a title or a fortune, here the next in line to the throne.
Well, yes, of course. He's the heir to the throne.
Season 2, episode 3. Said 26 times in 19 episodes, 8.8x the average show.
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16
marvelous
Wonderful or excellent, the show's standard word of praise.
Isn't he marvelous?
Season 1, episode 9. Said 20 times in 11 episodes, 14x the average show.
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17
adore
To love deeply, or to like something very much.
The British people adore their sovereign.
Season 2, episode 5. Said 21 times in 16 episodes, 13x the average show.
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18
dreadful
Very bad indeed, said of places, people and weather alike.
It really is a most dreadful place, cold, uninviting, but it's the right thing, for the young family and the children to live there.
Season 1, episode 3. Said 17 times in 16 episodes, 21x the average show.
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19
triumph
A great success, and the word for an occasion that went well.
Her return to London after 50,000 miles by air, land and sea is a triumph of diplomacy at a challenging time for the empire.
Season 1, episode 8. Said 18 times in 12 episodes, 16x the average show.
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20
courtier
A member of a royal court, one of the officials who surround a monarch.
He dismissed courtiers who'd served under his father in favor of younger, sycophantic supplicants.
Season 1, episode 7. Said 9 times in 6 episodes, 242x the average show.
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21
wretched
Miserable, or, said of a thing, thoroughly annoying.
To give ordinary people an ideal to strive towards, an example of nobility and duty to raise them in their wretched lives.
Season 1, episode 4. Said 16 times in 11 episodes, 22x the average show.
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22
ambassador
A country's senior diplomat posted to another country.
We can extend an invitation through our ambassador in Washington.
Season 1, episode 7. Said 22 times in 11 episodes, 8.9x the average show.
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23
dreary
Dull and depressing, said of places, weather and people.
It's dreary, but at least it's close.
Season 1, episode 6. Said 11 times in 8 episodes, 62x the average show.
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24
popularity
Being liked by a lot of people, which this show treats as a thing that can be won and lost.
Don't mistake your current popularity for long-term security.
Season 1, episode 6. Said 13 times in 9 episodes, 28x the average show.
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25
ghastly
Horrible or extremely unpleasant, a favourite word of the upper-class characters.
- Oh, it's lovely there. - It's a ghastly little pond.
Season 3, episode 1. Said 11 times in 11 episodes, 50x the average show.
How we counted
We count how often each English word is said across every line of dialogue in The Crown, then compare that against the same count over thousands of episodes of other popular TV shows.
A word is signature when The Crown says it far more often than TV in general, across several different episodes, so a word shouted through one scene doesn't count. The list is ordered by how much of the show's dialogue each word carries.
Names, sound descriptions from subtitle files and song lyrics are removed by hand. The same counts give every show its words-needed figure on our ranking of popular TV shows.
Watch it with the words you don't know marked
Add The Crown in Wordspotting and, before each episode, it shows you the words in it you haven't met yet, each with the line it's said in. These 25 are where the show's vocabulary starts. It has 506 more.