Dictionary

burgher en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)/

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.

Meanings

1. A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class.
   • 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. 1879 December 21, “[Ulysses S.] Grant in Philadelphia”, in Norfolk Virginian, volume XXIX, number 24, Norfolk, Va., →OCLC, page 2, column 1:
2. A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class. ▸ A member of the medieval mercantile class.
3. A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class. ▸ A citizen of a medieval city.
4. A prosperous member of the community; a middle-class citizen (may connote complacency).

Forms

Deriveds

burgherdom · burgherhood · burghermaster · burgherly · burghership · antiburgher

Relateds

bourgeois · burgess · burgomaster

Translations (26)

pl mieszczanka (citizen of a borough or town) · sk mešťanka (citizen of a borough or town) · ru горожа́нка (citizen of a borough or town) · cs měšťan (citizen of a borough or town) · mk мештанка (citizen of a borough or town) · de Bürgerin (citizen of a borough or town) · fi porvari (prosperous member of the community) · sk mešťan (citizen of a borough or town) · fi kaupunkilainen (citizen of a borough or town) · it borghese (prosperous member of the community) · tr şehirli (citizen of a borough or town) · fr citadin (citizen of a borough or town) · tr burjuva (prosperous member of the community) · fr citadine (citizen of a borough or town) · de Bürger (citizen of a borough or town) · fr bourgeois (prosperous member of the community) · it cittadina (citizen of a borough or town) · mk мештанин (citizen of a borough or town) · fr bourgeois (citizen of a borough or town) · it cittadino (citizen of a borough or town) · pl burżuj (prosperous member of the community) · pl mieszczanin (citizen of a borough or town) · eo burĝo (citizen of a borough or town) · fr bourgeoise (citizen of a borough or town) · ru горожа́нин (citizen of a borough or town) · cs měšťanka (citizen of a borough or town)