burgher

See also: Burgher

English

Alternative forms

• burger

Etymology

From Middle English burger, burgher, burghere, equivalent to burgh +‎ -er (“inhabitant of”). Likely merged with and reinforced by Middle Dutch burgher (Modern Dutch: burger); from Middle High German burger (Modern German: Bürger); from Old High German burgāri (“inhabitant of a fortress”); derivative of burg (“fortress, citadel”), from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“fortified elevation”).

Compare also Old English burgwaras (“inhabitants of a burg, burghers, citizens”) and Serbo-Croatian purger. More at borough.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)
• Homophone: burger

Noun

burgher (plural burghers)

1. A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class.
   • 1879 December 21, “[Ulysses S.] Grant in Philadelphia”, in Norfolk Virginian, volume XXIX, number 24, Norfolk, Va., →OCLC, page 2, column 1:

     When General Grant started on his tour around the world, the City of Brotherly Love was selected as the point of departure, and thence he set sail for Europe with the benisons of the sturdy burghers of the Quaker City.

   1. A member of the medieval mercantile class.
   2. A citizen of a medieval city.
2. A prosperous member of the community; a middle-class citizen (may connote complacency).

Derived terms

• antiburgher
• burgherdom
• burgherhood
• burgherly
• burghermaster
• burghership

Related terms

• bourgeois
• burgess
• burgomaster

Translations

citizen of a borough or town

• Czech: měšťan (cs) m, měšťanka (cs) f
• Esperanto: burĝo (eo)
• Finnish: kaupunkilainen (fi)
• French: bourgeois (fr) m, bourgeoise (fr) f, citadin (fr) m, citadine (fr) f
• German: Bürger (de) m, Bürgerin (de) f
• Italian: cittadino (it), cittadina (it) f
• Macedonian: мештанин m (meštanin), мештанка f (meštanka)
• Polish: mieszczanin (pl) m, mieszczanka (pl) f
• Russian: горожа́нин (ru) m (gorožánin), горожа́нка (ru) f (gorožánka)
• Slovak: mešťan m, mešťanka f
• Turkish: şehirli (tr)

prosperous member of the community

• Finnish: porvari (fi)
• French: bourgeois (fr) m
• Italian: borghese (it) m
• Polish: burżuj (pl) m (derogatory)
• Turkish: burjuva (tr)