hipster

See also: Hipster

English

Alternative forms

• (A person interested in the latest trends): hepster (dated)

Etymology

hip +‎ -ster. First attested for someone carrying something on their hip in the U.S. in the 1920s. Attested as a variant of hepster in the 1940s, for a follower of the latest fashions/trends/styles.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪp.stə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪp.stɚ/

Noun

hipster (plural hipsters)

1. A person who is keenly interested in the latest trends or fashions. [from earlier 20th c.]
   • c. 1954, Jack Kerouac, Untitled poem, in Book of Sketches, 1952-57, Penguin, 2006, p. 239,

     I, poor French Canadian Ti Jean become / a big sophisticated hipster esthete in / the homosexual arts […]

2. A member of Bohemian counterculture.
3. An aficionado of jazz who considers himself or herself to be hip.
4. (US, obsolete, Prohibition) A person who wears a hip flask (of alcohol).
5. (US, obsolete, 1930s) A dancer, particularly a female one.
6. Underwear with an elastic waistband at hip level.

Synonyms

(Prohibition):

• vial villain
• gentleman from Kentucky (from Kentucky backcountry moonshine)

Coordinate terms

(Prohibition):

• bootlegging (n.)
• bootleg (v.) (from hiding flasks in the boot, or stocking)

Derived terms

• blipster
• hipsterdom
• hipsterfication
• hipsterfy
• hipster glasses
• hipsterific
• hipsterish
• hipsterism
• hipstery
• hiptard
• yupster

 

Translations

person interested in the latest trends

• Dutch: hipster (nl) m
• Esperanto: hipstero
• Finnish: hipsteri (fi)
• Georgian: ჰიფსტერი (hipsṭeri)
• German: Hipster (de) m, Hipsterin f
• Greek: χίπστερ (el) m or f (chípster)
• Hungarian: hipszter (hu)
• Japanese: ヒップスター (Hippusutā)
• Macedonian: хипстер m (hipster), помодар m (pomodar)
• Marathi: हिप्स्टर (hipsṭar)
• Polish: hipster (pl) m
• Portuguese: hipster (pt)
• Russian: хи́пстер (ru) m (xípstɛr)
• Spanish: modernillo m, gafapasta m or f, hipster (es) m or f
• Swedish: hipster (sv) c, trendnisse c

See also

(Prohibition):

• suffer from hip disease (v.)

Verb

hipster (third-person singular simple present hipsters, present participle hipstering, simple past and past participle hipstered)

1. To behave like a hipster.
   • 2000, Eugene Davidson, Reflections on a Disruptive Decade: Essays on the Sixties, page 139:

     But it was a white staff member of a reform school who gave Claude Brown the first notion he ever had that there might be something in the world besides dope and sex and hipstering.

   • 2011, Martin Bodek, The Year of Bad Behavior: Bearing Witness to the Uncouthiest of Humanity, →ISBN:

     The hipsters are hipstering, the businessmen are businessing, the parents are parenting, the children are childrening, and the black teenagers are calling each other niggers.

   • 2017, The Rough Guide to the USA, →ISBN:

     If you're up for a night of hipstering, this is a good spot to begin - a grungy joint that nevertheless hosts a solid varying roster of blues, funk, reggae, rock and indie bands.

2. To dress or decorate in a hip fashion.
   • 2009, Jill Malone, A Field Guide to Deception, →ISBN, page 135:

     Claire's permission, to be going out with this fine, circumspect woman, all hipstered out and cowboy booted, without a chaperone.

   • 2014, Tellulah Darling, My Life From Hell, →ISBN:

     I nudged Theo. “I give him three hours before he's hipstered it back up again.

   • 2019, Michael Pryor, Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town, →ISBN:

     Victorian frock coats and neckwear, with facial hair that would make any hipster contemplate giving up hipstering and taking up...

Anagrams

• Pithers, perisht, prehist.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English hipster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ip.stœʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

hipster m or f by sense (plural hipsters)

1. hipster

German

Adjective

hipster

1. inflection of hip:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular superlative degree
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular superlative degree
   3. strong genitive plural superlative degree

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English hipster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxip.stɛr/
• Rhymes: -ipstɛr
• Syllabification: hip‧ster

Noun

hipster m pers (feminine hipsterka)

1. hipster (person interested in the latest trends)
2. hipster (aficionado of jazz who considers himself or herself to be hip)

Declension

Declension of hipster

	singular	plural
nominative	hipster	hipsterzy/hipstery (deprecative)
genitive	hipstera	hipsterów
dative	hipsterowi	hipsterom
accusative	hipstera	hipsterów
instrumental	hipsterem	hipsterami
locative	hipsterze	hipsterach
vocative	hipsterze	hipsterzy

Derived terms

adjective

• hipsterski

 

Further reading

• hipster in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• hipster in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hipster.

Noun

hipster m or f by sense (plural hipsters)

1. hipster (person interested in the latest trends)

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hipster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxibsteɾ/ [ˈxiβ̞s.t̪eɾ]
• Rhymes: -ibsteɾ

Noun

hipster m or f by sense (plural hipsters or hipster)

1. hipster

   Synonyms: gafapasta, modernillo

   • 2014 October 28, Ferran Bono, quoting Víctor Lenore, ““Entre los ‘hipsters’, ‘Clandestino’ de Manu Chao fue despreciado””, in El País‎^[1], Madrid, →ISSN:

     Manu Chao es una figura estigmatizada por los hipsters por vulgar.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2021 April 21, Sergio C. Fanjul, “Los ‘punkis’ y la mastina”, in El País‎^[2]:

     Yo creo que Sua ya es más como una hipster treintañera que no puede dárselas de neorrural: ama los coches, teme a las ovejas, ya le vale a la perra – dice Jimena mientras tira fuerte de la correa.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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.

Derived terms

• hipsterismo

 

Swedish

Noun

hipster c

1. a hipster (member of a Bohemian counterculture)
2. (historical) a hipster (jazz aficionado)

Declension

Declension of hipster
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	hipster	hipstern	hipsters, hipstrar	hipstrarna, hipstersen
Genitive	hipsters	hipsterns	hipsters, hipstrars	hipstrarnas, hipstersens

References

• hipster in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• hipster in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)