celebrity

English

Etymology

From Middle English celebritē, from Old French celebrite (compare French célébrité), from Latin celēbritās.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɪˈlɛbɹɪti/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /səˈlɛbɹɪti/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛləbɾɪʈi/

Noun

celebrity (countable and uncountable, plural celebrities)

1. (obsolete) A rite or ceremony. [17th–18th c.]
2. (uncountable, uncommon outside high registers) Fame, renown; the state of being famous or talked-about. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: big name, distinction, fame, eminence, renown

3. (countable) A person who has a high degree of recognition by the general population for his or her success or accomplishments; a famous person. [from 19th c.]

   Synonyms: big name, star, (informal) celeb, (informal) sleb, luminary, notable, media darling

   Hyponym: delebrity

   • 1899, E. Nesbit, The Story of the Treasure Seekers:

     "What do you put in your paper?" I asked, […] "Oh, news," said he, "and dull articles, and things about Celebrities. If you know any Celebrities, now?" Noël asked him what Celebrities were. "Oh, the Queen and the Princes, and people with titles, and people who write, or sing, or act—or do something clever or wicked."

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.

Derived terms

• anticelebrity
• blogebrity
• celeb
• celebreality
• celebretard
• celebricide
• celebrification
• celebriphilia
• celebritihood
• celebritiness
• celebritize
• celebritydom
• celebrityhood
• celebrityness
• celebrity obsession disorder
• celebrityship
• celebrityville
• celebrity worship syndrome
• celebutante
• celebutard
• celesbian
• celetoid
• cybercelebrity
• delebrity
• demicelebrity
• e-celebrity
• incelebrity
• megacelebrity
• microcelebrity, micro-celebrity
• minicelebrity
• minor celebrity
• noncelebrity
• nonebrity
• pro-celebrity
• pseudocelebrity
• semicelebrity
• subcelebrity
• sublebrity
• supercelebrity
• weblebrity

Related terms

• celeb
• celebrate
• celebration

Translations

famous person

• Afrikaans: beroemde persoon
• Arabic: نَجْم (ar) m (najm), نَجْمَة (ar) f (najma)
• Belarusian: знакамі́тасць f (znakamítascʹ), зо́рка (be) f (zórka) (star)
• Bulgarian: знамени́тост (bg) f (znamenítost), звезда́ (bg) f (zvezdá) (star)
• Catalan: celebritat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 名人 (zh) (míngrén), 明星 (zh) (míngxīng), 名士 (zh) (míngshì), 名流 (zh) (míngliú)

• Czech: celebrita (cs) f, hvězda (cs) f (star)
• Danish: kendt, kendis (da) c, celebritet c
• Dutch: beroemdheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: famulo
• Estonian: prominent (et)
• Finnish: julkisuuden henkilö, (colloquial) julkkis (fi)
• French: célébrité (fr) f, people (fr) m or f
• Galician: celebridade (gl) m or f
• German: berühmte Person f, Prominenter (de) m, Prominente (de) f, (colloquial) Promi (de) m or f, Star (de) m, Berühmtheit (de) f, Celebrity (de) f, Zelebrität (de) f, Bekanntheit (de) f, berühmte Persönlichkeit f
• Greek: διασημότητα (el) f (diasimótita)
• Hebrew: יְדוּעָן (he) m (yedu'án), סֶלֶבְּרִיטִי (he) m (selébriti), סֶלֶבּ (he) m (seléb)
• Hungarian: híresség (hu), sztár (hu)
• Ido: famozo (io)
• Indonesian: pesohor, orang tenar
• Italian: celebrità (it) f
• Japanese: 有名人 (ja) (ゆうめいじん, yūmeijin), 名士 (ja) (めいし, meishi), セレブ (ja) (serebu), セレブリティー (ja) (sereburitī)
• Korean: 유명인(有名人) (yumyeong'in), 실레브리티 (sillebeuriti), 연예인(演藝人) (ko) (yeonyein)
• Latvian: slavenība f
• Lithuanian: įžymybė f
• Malay: selebriti
• Maori: hautupua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: berømthet (no) m or f, kjendis (no) m, celebritet m, selebritet m

  Nynorsk: kjendis m, celebritet m, selebritet m

• Persian: سلبریتی (selebriti), ستاره (fa) (setâre) (star)
• Polish: celebryta (pl) m, celebrytka (pl) f, gwiazda (pl) f, osobowość medialna f
• Portuguese: celebridade (pt), colunável m or f
• Russian: знамени́тость (ru) f (znamenítostʹ), селе́брити (ru) f (selébriti) (colloquial or slang), селе́ба (ru) f (seléba) (slang), звезда́ (ru) f (zvezdá) (star)
• Serbo-Croatian: slavna osoba f
• Slovak: celebrita f, hviezda (sk) f (star)
• Spanish: celebridad (es) f, celebrity m or f
• Swedish: kändis (sv) c, celebritet (sv) c, känd person c
• Turkish: ünlü (tr)
• Ukrainian: знамени́тість f (znamenýtistʹ), зі́рка (uk) f (zírka) (star)
• Vietnamese: danh nhân (vi)
• Zazaki: namdar (diq) c

fame

• Bulgarian: изве́стност (bg) f (izvéstnost)
• Catalan: celebritat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聲譽 / 声誉 (zh) (shēngyù), 名聲 / 名声 (zh) (míngshēng)

• Danish: berømthed (da) c, berømtheder c pl
• Finnish: kuuluisuus (fi)
• French: célébrité (fr) f
• German: Berühmtheit (de) f, Bekanntheit (de) f, Ruhm (de) m
• Greek: διασημότητα (el) f (diasimótita), φήμη (el) f (fími)
• Ido: famo (io)
• Indonesian: ketenaran (id)
• Japanese: 名声 (ja) (めいせい, meisei)
• Korean: 명성(名聲) (ko) (myeongseong)
• Latin: celebritas f
• Maori: mūrau
• Ottoman Turkish: شان (şan)
• Russian: знамени́тость (ru) f (znamenítostʹ), изве́стность (ru) f (izvéstnostʹ), сла́ва (ru) f (sláva)
• Spanish: celebridad (es) f
• Swedish: berömmelse (sv) c, berömmelser c pl
• Vietnamese: danh vọng (vi)

References

• “celebrity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• celebrity in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “celebrity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English celebrity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θeˈlebɾiti/ [θeˈle.β̞ɾi.t̪i] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /seˈlebɾiti/ [seˈle.β̞ɾi.t̪i] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -ebɾiti
• Syllabification: ce‧le‧bri‧ty

Noun

celebrity m or f by sense (plural celebritys)

1. celebrity

   Synonym: celebridad

   • 2022 August 18, Enrique Alpañés, “Pete Davison no saldrá en ‘Las Kardashian’: así es como los novios, maridos y exparejas del clan aparecen en el ‘reality’”, in El País‎^[1]:

     En la realidad, la celebrity y empresaria Kim Kardashian (41 años) ha estado saliendo nueve meses con el cómico Pete Davidson (28), hasta que rompieron a principios de agosto.

     In reality, the celebrity and businesswoman Kim Kardashian (41 years old) has been dating comedian Pete Davidson (28) for nine months, until they broke up in early August.

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.