pleb

English

Etymology

A clipping of plebeian and plebe, sometimes also understood as a back-formation from plebs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɛb/

• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɛb

Noun

pleb (plural plebs)

1. A commoner, a member of the lower class of a society.
2. (derogatory) A common person, an unsophisticated or cultureless person.
   • 1795, John O'Keeffe, Life's Vagaries, Act V, Scene ii, line 85:

     You're under my roof, you pleb.

3. (US, slang, usually derogatory) A freshman cadet at a military academy.
   • 1838, Caroline H. Gilman, The Poetry of Travelling in the United States..., p. 76:

     I found some of the novices, plebs they are called, home-sick, and weary with their discipline.

   • 1922, Dialect Notes, American Dialect Society, No. 5, p. 189:

     At Annapolis, the natives are crabs, the freshmen plebs, the sophomores youngsters.

Synonyms

• prole, plebe, plebeian

Antonyms

• toff, posho

Related terms

• plebe, plebeian, plebs

Translations

common person

• Armenian: պլեբեյ (hy) (plebey), ռամիկ (hy) (ṙamik)
• Finnish: rahvas (fi), prole (fi)
• German: Prolet (de) m

• Persian: عامی‎ (fa) ('âmmi)
• Portuguese: ralé (pt) f, gentalha (pt) f, plebe (pt) f, zé (pt) m
• Spanish: mandado (es) m
• Thai: ไพร่ (th) (prâi)

Adjective

pleb (not comparable)

1. Of or concerning the lower class of a society.
2. (derogatory) Undistinguished, commonplace, unsophisticated, vulgar, coarse.

References

• “pleb, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2006.

Anagrams

• BPEL, blep, pelB