regent

\ \ [14] Regent is one of a large family of English words that go back to Latin regere ‘rule’, a descendant of the Indo-European base reg- ‘move in a straight line’, hence ‘direct, guide, rule’. Others include correct, direct, dirge, erect, rector, régime [18], regimen [14] (and its more heavily disguised twin realm), regiment [14] (which originally meant ‘government’), region [14] (etymologically a ‘governed area’), resurrect, source, and surge. Regent itself comes from the present participle of the Latin verb.

\ \ Related words in Latin include rēx ‘king’ (source of English regal, regalia, royal, etc), rēgula ‘rule’ (source of English rail ‘bar’, regular, rule, etc), and rēgnum ‘kingship’ (source of English reign); and among other English words from the same Indo-European source are raj, rich, and right.

\ \ Cf.⇒ ADDRESS, CORRECT, DIRECT, DIRGE, DRESS, ERECT, RAJAH, REALM, RECTOR, REGIMENT, REGION, REGULAR, REIGN, RIGHT, ROYAL, RULE