bougie
1 Americanadjective
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Sometimes Disparaging. relating to or characteristic of a person who indulges in some of the luxuries and comforts of a fancy lifestyle.
He spends too much on bougie stuff he can’t afford.
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Often Disparaging and Offensive. Also bourgie relating to or characteristic of a person who aspires to the upper middle class, especially when regarded as being elitist or snobbish.
The bougie folks all left the old neighborhood and bought houses out there where their kids'll go to “good schools,” whatever that means.
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relating to or characteristic of a person who flaunts newly acquired wealth without necessarily embracing the cultural values and pretensions of the upper middle class.
that bougie feeling when you’re drinking high-end champagne—out of a red plastic cup.
noun
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bougies
plural
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Medicine/Medical.
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a slender, flexible instrument introduced into passages of the body, especially the urethra, for dilating, examining, medicating, etc.
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a suppository.
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a wax candle.
noun
Sensitivity
Bougie is often used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting, depending on the cultural or social context of its use. It originated as slang in the African American community, used disparagingly to describe wealthier or upwardly mobile people, usually other Black people, who were seen to be socially pretentious. It is now also used as a term of mild censure, referring in general to people who have expensive tastes.
Usage
Spelling tips for bougie The slang term bougie comes from a shortening and alteration of the word bourgeois, which is even harder to remember how to spell. How to spell bougie: Bougie is also sometimes spelled boujee, boujie, and boojie, but bougie is the most common spelling. Boogie is a different word altogether. To remember the vowel sequences in bougie (o-u, i-e), just remember this question: “Oh, you think I’m bougie, i.e. too fancy?”
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bougie1
An Americanism dating back to 1965–70; shortening and alteration of bourgeois 1 ( def. )
Origin of bougie2
First recorded in 1745–55; from French, after Bougie (from Arabic Bujāyah ), town in Algeria, center of the wax trade
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In years past, Aylesworth, who considers herself “a very bougie person,” would only eat caviar at restaurants on special occasions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
But Velto’s bougie vending machines stocked with caviar are sure to cheer you up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
I didn’t mind paying the fee, but I wonder if it would be worth it to get the bougie card to have year-round access.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 20, 2026
"And all the whilst he was doing this, he was going on like really crazy bougie holidays and spending crazy amounts of money that probably wasn't his."
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2025
It felt a little bougie, the kind of thing that would elicit a skeptical side eye from my South Side relatives.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
He punctured his tires, had a big hole in his reservoir, his steering gear bent, his bougies always doing something they oughtn't to.
From Chateau and Country Life in France by Mary Alsop King Waddington
The use of the œsophagoscope and of bougies is to be deprecated as not free from risk.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles
One gratefully appreciates this, after juggling every few days with disheartening lists of accumulated coffees and eggs and dinners and rooms and mineral waters and service and bougies, and the others.
From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Edwin Asa Dix
M. M. The perpetual use of bougies, either of catgut or of caoutchouc.
From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Erasmus Darwin
C and D, full lumen, with both light canal and drainage canal outside the wall of the tube, to be used for passing very large bougies.
From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Chevalier Jackson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
