commoner

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English communer,^[2] formed from Middle English commun + -er,^[2][3] from common;^[4][5][6] the OED derives it partly from the verb common, partly from the noun and partly from the adjective.^[5] Etymonline takes it as an agent noun from the verb common, to take part in common or to have dealings with someone.^[4] In early use it partly follows Anglo-Norman comuner and Middle French communier, a tenant with a right of common, a partner, a burgess or a person not of noble birth, and in some senses perhaps Medieval Latin communarius,^[5] which the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford give as its source, from communa (“community”).^[7][8] The English adjective is from Latin commūnis (“common”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who shares or takes part in something: 1357, in Gaytryge's Lay Folks' Catechism.^[5] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century in English, and to the mid-14th century in Anglo-Norman.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant a sharer or participant (1357–1639) and a member of a town's community with civic rights, a citizen or burgess (1384).^[5][8] From about 1400, in Langland's Piers Plowman, it meant an ordinary person as opposed to the nobility;^[5][4] from about 1450 it was also a member of the House of Commons.^[5][4] From about 1460 it was a person with a right to use common land for grazing, fuel or fishing;^[5][2] since the 16th century, chiefly at Oxford and Cambridge, it has also meant an undergraduate without a scholarship.^[5][2] Shakespeare used it in All's Well that Ends Well for a prostitute, a sense now obsolete.^[5][6] Johnson (1755) listed six senses, from "one of the common people" to "a student of the second rank at the university of Oxford".^[6] In 19th-century British slang a commoner was an amateur or second-rate boxer, and in 20th-century American gay slang a heterosexual.^[9]

Timeline

• 1357 – a person who shares in something (obsolete by 1639).^[5]
• 1384 – a citizen or burgess; a member of a town council.^[5]
• c. 1400 – an ordinary person, not of the nobility.^[5]
• c. 1450 – a member of the House of Commons.^[5]
• c. 1460 – a person with a right of common over common land.^[5]
• before 1578 – at Oxford and Cambridge, a student without a scholarship.^[5]
• before 1616 – a prostitute (obsolete by 1695).^[5]
• 1830 – in slang, an amateur or second-rate boxer.^[9]
• 1972 – in American gay slang, a heterosexual.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who does not belong to the nobility; in Britain, anyone below the rank of peer: The prince married a commoner.^[10][2][5]
2. A person who has a right of common over common land.^[10][2][5]
3. (British) At some universities, a student who has no scholarship.^[10][2][5]
4. A member of the House of Commons; now rare.^[2][5][8]
5. (obsolete) A prostitute (1616–1695).^[5][2][6]

Word family

• gentleman-commoner

Related words

• common
• commons
• commune

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins