hippie

American  

[hip-ee] / ˈhɪp i /

Or hippy

noun

1. a person, especially of the late 1960s, who rejected established institutions and values and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expanded consciousness, often expressed externally in the wearing of casual, folksy clothing and of beads, headbands, used garments, etc.

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hippie British  

/ ˈhɪpɪ /

noun

1. a variant spelling of hippy 1

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Etymology

Origin of hippie

An Americanism dating back to 1950–55; hip ⁴ + -ie

Compare meaning

How does hippie compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• beatnik vs. hippie

Example Sentences

Around the same time, George Ohsawa’s book Zen Macrobiotics introduced to the West the concept of a macrobiotic diet, which hippies popularized.

From The Wall Street Journal

While home births were once the province of counterculture hippies, Los Angeles doula Rebecca Richter said she’d been hearing from women of all walks of life “who desire more than the system is giving them.”

From The Wall Street Journal

What I want, right now, is what I would call an old-school hippie bowl.

From Salon

His longtime prescriptions of fresh food, sunshine, regular exercise and meditation are now widely accepted building blocks of health, and are no longer the sole province of ditzy L.A. hippies.

From Los Angeles Times

Early on, few artists worked harder or longer than Mr. Weir and the Grateful Dead to establish and define the rock-concert ethos while advancing hippie culture.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bohemian
• flower child
• free spirit