royalty

royalty — noun

1. All the people who make up a royal house — the king, queen, and their close rela

1.nounB2
Definition

All the people who make up a royal house — the king, queen, and their close relatives — when thought of as a group rather than as separate individuals.

Example

The museum displayed gold jewellery that once belonged to European royalty.

Before the queen's visit, little Greta had never seen royalty in person.

uncountable: used without an article for the group as a whole

Common collocations
  • member of royalty
  • European royalty
  • British royalty
  • meet royalty
  • host royalty
Synonyms
  • nobility

    refers to a broader social class of titled people, not only the royal family itself

  • the crown

    refers to the royal institution or authority rather than the people

  • aristocracy

    includes both royalty and titled nobles; a wider social class

Antonyms
  • commoners

    people who do not belong to a royal or noble family

  • the public

    ordinary citizens as a group

Usage Note

Uncountable — you cannot say 'a royalty' to mean one royal person. Use 'a member of royalty' or simply 'a royal' instead. The plural form 'royalties' meaning 'royal individuals' is sometimes used in informal journalism but is not standard in careful writing.

Common Mistakes

The prince is a royalty.
The prince is a member of royalty.
'royalty' is uncountable; you cannot use 'a' before it to mean one person.
She showed great royalty to her country.
She showed great loyalty to her country.
'royalty' and 'loyalty' sound similar but have different meanings.

2. An agreed payment that goes to creators — writers, musicians, or inventors — eve

2.nounB2
Definition

An agreed payment that goes to creators — writers, musicians, or inventors — every time their book, song, or patented product is bought, played publicly, or put into use by someone else under a legal licence.

Example

The author receives a royalty of ten percent on every copy sold.

collocation: 'a royalty of [percentage]'

Musicians earn royalties every time their songs are played on the radio.

Common collocations
  • earn royalties
  • pay royalties
  • royalty rate
  • royalty income
  • collect royalties
  • royalty agreement
Synonyms
  • licensing fee

    a broader term covering any payment for permission to use intellectual property

  • commission

    a percentage paid to a salesperson or agent, not specifically for creative or intellectual work

  • share of profits

    can refer to any portion of earnings, not necessarily tied to each unit sold

Usage Note

Often used in the plural (royalties) even when referring to payments from one book or one song, because payments are typically made per copy or per use, resulting in multiple small sums. 'Royalty rate' is the percentage or fixed amount agreed upon.

Common Mistakes

I bought the book and paid royalty to the author.
I bought the book, and the publisher pays royalty to the author.
consumers do not pay royalties directly; royalties are paid by publishers, record labels, or licensees.

3. Money that an oil, gas, or mining company pays a landowner or the government for

3.nounC1
Definition

Money that an oil, gas, or mining company pays a landowner or the government for permission to take valuable raw materials — such as petroleum, coal, or minerals — out of the ground.

Example

A mining company pays the landowner a royalty for each ton of coal removed.

Oil royalties provide a steady income for families whose land sits above large oil fields.

collocation: 'oil royalties / gas royalties'

Common collocations
  • oil royalty
  • gas royalty
  • mineral royalty
  • royalty rate
  • royalty agreement
  • collect royalties
Synonyms
  • mineral rights payment

    more specific; refers to payments tied to mineral extraction rights

  • lease bonus

    a one-time upfront payment for signing a lease, not a per-unit payment over time

  • override royalty

    a technical term for a share of production that is free of production costs

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 2: in this sense, the payment is for extracting physical resources from land, not for using creative or intellectual work. The term is typically preceded by a resource name (oil royalty, gas royalty, mineral royalty). Common in contracts, legal documents, and business news.

Common Mistakes

The singer received oil royalties from her album sales.
The singer received royalties from her album sales.
oil royalties specifically refer to payments for oil extraction, not music sales.

Word family

  • royal
    adjectiveB1
  • royally
    adverbB2
  • royalist
    nounC1
  • royalism
    nounC2
  • royal
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/2

Royalty, licensing fee, commission, and residual all refer to payments made in exchange for the use of something, but they differ in context and structure. A royalty is specifically tied to each unit sold or used — a percentage of each book sold or each time a song is played. A licensing fee is a broader term: it can be a one-time payment or a recurring fee for the right to use intellectual property, and it does not always vary with sales volume. A commission is a percentage paid to a salesperson, agent, or broker for facilitating a sale — it is not tied to creative or intellectual work. A residual is a repeat payment made to actors or performers when a TV show or film is re-aired or streamed. For example: an author receives a royalty of $1.50 per book sold; a store owner pays a licensing fee to use a brand name on their products; a real estate agent earns a commission on a house sale; and a voice actor collects residuals every time their commercial airs on national television.

royalty ↗licensing feecommission ↗residual ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • royalty payment
  • royalty rate
  • royalty income
  • royalty check
  • royalty agreement

Phrases

  • pay royalty on
  • earn royalty from
  • collect royalties for
  • royalty in kind

Prepositions

  • royalty on
  • royalties from
  • royalty for
  • royalties on

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Royalty comes from Old French 'roialte', meaning 'royal power or status', which developed from Latin 'regalitas' (kingly nature, sovereignty), ultimately from 'rex' (king). The word first appeared in English around the 1400s referring to the status or office of a king. By the 1500s it had come to mean 'royal people as a group'. The modern financial meaning — a payment to an author or inventor — emerged in the 1800s, based on the idea that creators have a 'royal' right to profit from their work, like a sovereign's right to collect income from their land.