hoi polloi

English

WOTD – 19 December 2006

Alternative forms

• polloi

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek οἱ πολλοί (hoi polloí, “the many”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌhɔɪ pəˈlɔɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Noun

1. (collective) The common people; the masses. (Used with or without the definite article.)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:commonalty

   Antonym: elite

   • 1953 January, District of Columbia Library Association in Washington, D.C. Libraries, volume 24, number 1, page 1

     But what, pray tell, is a “librarian”? Consult the same infallible source and you will learn: “One who has the care or charge of a library.” And where does that leave the most of us, hoi great unwashed polloi who have neither the “care” nor the “charge” of a library?

   • 2000 March 6, 9:00am, Arthur T. Murray, sci.econ (Usenet newsgroup), “Proletarians of the World Wide Web, unite against ICANN!”, Message ID: <38c3d0ce@news.victoria.tc.ca>#1/1

     Holding the meeting in Egypt is a Machiavellian way to look international but in reality to prevent hoi Interent polloi from attending the meeting.

   • 2010, Guy Deutscher, Through the Language Glass, Arrow 2011, page 59:

     Naturally, the anthropological society did not wish to share its business with hoi polloi, so Herr Hagenbeck kindly offered them a private viewing.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 178:

     The extension caused fury in Hampstead, where southbound trains began to arrive fully loaded with the hoi polloi of rapidly growing Edgware, Burnt Oak, Colindale, Hendon, Brent and Golders Green.

2. (proscribed) The elite.

Usage notes

• Since hoi is a definite article in Ancient Greek, some authorities consider the English construction the hoi polloi redundant (equivalent to "the the many/masses") and say it should not be used. But the term is usually preceded by the (as the OED and Merriam-webster.com also say).
• The second definition contradicts the first; it arose from a misunderstanding of the term, probably under influence of such terms as hoity-toity and is often considered incorrect.

Translations

the common people

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 民眾／民众 (zh) (mínzhòng), 民众 (zh) (mínzhòng), 庶民 (zh) (shùmín), 大眾／大众 (zh) (dàzhòng), 大众 (zh) (dàzhòng)

• Danish: pøbel c
• Dutch: gepeupel (nl)
• Esperanto: popolamaso
• Estonian: lihtrahvas, pööbel
• Finnish: rahvas (fi)
• French: plèbe (fr) f, populace (fr) f, vulgum pecus (fr) m, commun des mortels (fr) m
• Galician: vulgo m
• German: Pöbel (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: οι πολλοί m pl (oi polloí), πλήθος (el) n (plíthos), μάζα (el) f (máza)
• Icelandic: lýðurinn m, sauðsvartur almúginn m
• Irish: slua m
• Japanese: 大衆 (ja) (たいしゅう, taishū), 庶民 (ja) (しょみん, shomin)
• Polish: plebs (pl) m, hołota (pl) f (pejorative)
• Portuguese: hoi polloi m, plebe (pt) f, gentalha (pt) f
• Russian: ма́ссы (ru) f pl (mássy), простонаро́дье (ru) n (prostonaródʹje), бы́дло (ru) n (býdlo) (pejorative)
• Spanish: populacho (es) m, plebe (es) f
• Swedish: pöbeln (sv) c, kreti och pleti (sv)

elite — see elite

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Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek οἱ πολλοί (hoi polloí, “the many”)

Noun

hoi polloi m (uncountable)

1. hoi polloi (the common people)

   Synonyms: plebe, gentalha