publican

English

Etymology

Senses 1 and 2 from Middle English, from Old French publicain, from Latin publicanus, from publicum.

Senses 4 and 5 are probably from the association with public house.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʌblɪkən/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

Noun

publican (plural publicans)

1. (historical) A tax collector in Ancient Rome.
2. (now rare) Any tax collector.
3. A heathen; a person excommunicated from the church.
4. (chiefly UK) The owner or manager of a public house.
   • 1890, Rudyard Kipling, "Tommy"

     I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,

     The publican 'e up an 'sez, "We serve no red-coats here."

5. (Australia, New Zealand) The owner or manager of a hotel.

   Synonym: hotelier

Translations

landlord of a pub

• Bulgarian: кръчмар m (krǎčmar)
• Catalan: cantiner, taverner (ca)
• Finnish: pubinpitäjä
• French: patron de bistro m, patronne de bistro f
• Irish: tábhairneoir m, óstóir m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: barista (it) m, bettoliere m, oste (it) m
• Swedish: pubinnehavare c
• Welsh: tafarnwr m

Roman tax collector

• Finnish: publikaani (fi)
• French: publicain (fr) m
• Gothic: 𐌼𐍉𐍄𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 m (mōtareis)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: pubblicano (it) m
• Latin: publicanus m
• Welsh: publican m

References

• “publican”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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Romanian

Etymology

From Latin publicanus.

Noun

publican m (plural publicani)

1. tax collector, publican

Declension

Declension of publican

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) publican	publicanul	(niște) publicani	publicanii
genitive/dative	(unui) publican	publicanului	(unor) publicani	publicanilor
vocative	publicanule		publicanilor

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Spanish

Verb

publican

1. third-person plural present indicative of publicar