From Wikipedia:
[…] a relationship in which one state or other polity controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. The dominant state is called the “suzerain”.
This seems to be a fairly historical term. There doesn’t seem to be many of these situations in existence now.
“Suzerain” is vaguely related to “sovereign.” It traces back to the Latin for “up” and “ward.”