bieder

German

Etymology

From Middle High German biderbe (also bederbe and shortened bider), from Old High German biderbi, piderpi, pidarpi, cognate with Bedarf. The derogatory sense arises in the 19th century. The compound Biedermann in origin means "brave, honest or capable man", but today has a meaning of "boring person, petty bourgeios".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːdɐ/

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

Adjective

bieder (comparative biederer, superlative am biedersten)

1. (dated) honest, respectable, upright, trustworthy.
2. (to stick simple-mindedly to society's norms) naive, simple-minded, guileless, ingenuous, oafish.
3. (to stick narrow-mindedly to society's norms, to be intent on being respectable) narrow-minded, bourgeois, petty bourgeois, petit bourgeois, hypocritical.
4. (of clothes, hairstyles, etc.) conventional, stale, conservative, drab, stodgy, prude, puritanical.

Synonyms

• (honest, upright): anständig, ehrbar, ehrenwert, ehrlich, rechtschaffen
• (simple-minded, naive): naiv, treuherzig, einfältig
• (narrow-minded, bourgeois): engstirnig, spießbürgerlich, kleinbürgerlich, kleinkariert
• (conventional, stale): langweilig, altbacken

Derived terms

Derived terms

• anbiedern
• Biederheit
• Biederherz
• Biederkeit

• Biedermann
• Biedermeier
• Biedermeierstil
• Biedermeierzeit

• Biedersinn
• Biederweib

Related terms

• Bedarf
• bedürfen
• biderb

Further reading

• “bieder” in Duden online