regent

Regent comes through Middle English from Anglo-Norman and Middle French regent, tracing back to Latin regēns, meaning 'ruling' or 'ruler,' the present participle of regō, 'to govern, to steer.'

The word carried its sense of ruling authority intact from Latin through French into English, always describing someone actively steering or governing.

It shares its Latin root regō with other steering, guiding words in English's Latinate vocabulary — the idea of governing as a kind of directing or steering runs underneath it.