burgher
Americannoun
noun
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a member of the trading or mercantile class of a medieval city
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a respectable citizen; bourgeois
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archaic a citizen or inhabitant of a corporate town, esp on the Continent
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history
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a citizen of the Cape Colony or of one of the Transvaal and Free State republics
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( as modifier )
burgher troops
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of burgher
1560–70; < Middle Dutch < Middle High German burger, equivalent to burg borough + -er -er 1
Explanation
Burgher is an old-fashioned term for a well-to-do resident of a town. Thanks to the wealthy burghers of your little city, the library got a fancy new cafe. This word can be used in a humorous way to mean "member of the bourgeoisie," but it originally referred to an official rank. During medieval times, privileged members of a European town (often those who were male and owned property) were given the title of burgher. City governments were composed of burghers, or “freemen of a burgh or borough.”
Vocabulary lists containing burgher
"Genesis of the Tenement," Vocabulary from the essay
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Medieval Europe - Middle School
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Medieval Europe - High School
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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.
Anthony would marry again, this time to a woman who was a Dutch burgher of impeccable standing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
Banská Bystrica is a tranquil kind of place, with a genteel Mitteleuropa charm: the centre has pavement cafes, neat rows of burgher houses and a number of handsome baroque churches.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 14, 2019
He recruited the famous woodcut artist Lucas Cranach, a friend and wealthy Wittenberg burgher, to improve the appearance of his works.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 26, 2017
To friends and business associates, including struggling writers, he was frequently generous, more generous than unalloyed prudence or the burgher work ethic that he embodied might lead us to expect.
From The New Yorker ● May 16, 2016
She was not quite a peasant—she and her brother owned their house, showing that they belonged to the stolid, sound, sheltered burgher class.
From Memoirs of an American Prima Donna by Kellogg, Clara Louise
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
