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bohemian

Etymology and origin of the English word bohemian

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bəʊˈhiː.miː.ən/ (UK); /boʊˈhi.mi.ən/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is a transferred use of Bohemian “native of Bohemia”,[2][3][4] after borrowed from French bohémien (“a Bohemian; a Gypsy”).[5][2][3] The French had used bohémien for the Roma since the 15th century,[3] who were wrongly believed to have come from Bohemia.[3][5] The country name goes back to Latin Boiohaemum, from the Boii, a people of ancient Gaul who settled there.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A native of Bohemia (before 1398 as a gloss in English;[2] 1555 in Merriam-Webster; 1603 in the OED).[6][7]

Semantic evolution

In English the word also meant a follower of John Huss (1579)[7] and a Gypsy (1696).[7] The sense of a person, especially an artist or writer, who lives free of conventional standards appeared in 1848,[2][3][7] after French, where it was attested by 1834[3] and popularized by Henri Murger's Scènes de la vie de bohème in the late 1840s.[3]

Timeline

  • before 1398 – a native of Bohemia.[2]
  • 1579 – a Hussite.[7]
  • 1696 – a Gypsy.[7]
  • 1848 – an unconventional artist or writer.[2][3][7]
  • 1861 – adjective, characteristic of such people.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person, often an artist or writer, who lives an unconventional life with little regard for social rules.
  2. (capitalized) A native or inhabitant of Bohemia.
  3. (capitalized) The Czech language, especially as spoken in Bohemia.

Adjective

  1. Unconventional in habits or dress, in the manner of a bohemian.
  2. (capitalized) Of Bohemia, its people or their language.

Word family

  • bohemianism
  • Bohemia
  • Gypsy

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bohemian.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bohemian. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

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