bourgeoisie

Etymology

It is borrowed from French bourgeoisie (“citizenry of a town; the middle class”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded in Old French in the 13th century as borgesie,^[2] and formed from burgeis, also borgeis, the source of bourgeois and burgess, with the suffix -ie.^[2][4] Etymonline traces the Old French word for a town dweller to borc (“town, village”), from Frankish *burg (“city”), and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“high”), whose derivatives refer to hills and hill forts.^[4] The OED compares Medieval Latin burgensia (“fee for the rights of citizenship”), recorded about 1200 in a source from France, and the parallel words Occitan borzezia, Catalan burgesia, Spanish burguesía, Portuguese burguesia and Italian borghesia, the last recorded from 1567 in the form borgesia.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The citizens or freemen of a town in France or another foreign country: 1593, in T. Danett's translation of Guicciardini's Description of the Low Countries, whose Italian original has borgesia.^[2] The OED's 1989 edition and Etymonline date the word to 1707,^[7][4] and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate also gives 1707;^[8] the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English place it in the early 18th century.^[5][6] The OED revised the first date in 2013.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In French the word meant the citizens of a town, and also citizenship and the fee paid for it, from the 13th century; it was used of the citizens as a class from 1538 and, in politics, of the middle class from 1792.^[2] English first used it of French towns, then extended it to the middle class of other countries.^[4][7] In Marxist writing, from 1850, the bourgeoisie became the class that upholds capitalism and is held to exploit the proletariat;^[2][9] Etymonline dates this use to 1886.^[4][7] Set phrases include haute bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie.^[5] H. L. Mencken blended boob and bourgeoisie into booboisie in the Baltimore Evening Sun of 15 February 1922.^[10]

Timeline

• 1593 – the citizens or freemen of a French or other foreign town.^[2]
• 1707 – the body of freemen of a French town; the French middle class.^[7][4][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the middle-class sense to 1774.^[11]
• 1850 – in Marxist theory, the capitalist class.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The middle class, or its members taken together: The new railway brought the town's bourgeoisie out to the seaside.^[9][11][5]
2. In Marxist theory, the capitalist class, opposed to the proletariat in the class struggle.^[9][2]
3. A social order dominated by the middle class.^[11][8]
4. Originally, the citizens or freemen of a French town.^[2][7][1]

Word family

• booboisie
• petite bourgeoisie

Related words

• bourgeois
• burgess
• borough
• burgher

Usage notes

The word is also used with a plural verb, for the members of the middle class.^[11][8] The first edition of the OED (1887) gave only the French pronunciation /burʒwazi/.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "Boobeoisie or Booboisie [boob + bourgeoisie]", 30 April 2011
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster