pommie

English

Alternative forms

• pommy

Etymology

From pom +‎ -ie (“diminutive suffix”). Australian from 1912.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɒmi/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

pommie (plural pommies)

1. (colloquial, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, sometimes pejorative) An English immigrant; a pom.
   • 1953, Nevil Shute, In the Wet, published 2010, unnumbered page:

     “It′ll be a long time before I do that,” the pilot said grimly. “She′s my Queen as well as yours, you know. I′m not a bloody Pommie.” […] “Too right, it′s difficult,” the Australian said. And then he added, “All Pommies aren′t bloody. I used that as a kind of figure of speech.”

   • 2005, Craig Zerf, Plob, page 234:

     A Pommie. They were sending him to England to work with a Pommie. After all that he had done for this country they were shipping him off to a cold, rain-infested, windy little isle to work a case with a Pommie.

   • 2011, Ali Lewis, Everybody Jam, unnumbered page:

     There are a lot of Pommies in Australia; travelling round, looking for work, and Dad reckoned you could pay them peanuts. […] If Sissy couldn′t go back to school, I thought she should help out more, then we wouldn′t have to hire a Pommie house girl.

Adjective

pommie (not comparable)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, sometimes derogatory) English; British.
   • See citations at pommy.

Related terms

• pom
• pommie basher
• pommie wash