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
Derived 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
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
“The nobleman tells us everything through the person he presents, but the burgher does not, and should not,” Goethe writes.
From The New Yorker • Feb. 1, 2016
Now we learned that the outrageous salaries of footballers began with a 19th-century burgher from Preston who apparently insisted on paying his players.
From The Guardian • Feb. 12, 2012
"So now to show bishop and burgher and priest How the Altenahr hawk can die, If they smoke the old falcon out of his nest, He must take to his wings and fly."
From In the Saddle A Collection of Poems on Horseback-Riding by Various
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.
