Standard Lemma guide

bougie

adj · name · noun · 8 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈbuːʒi/
  • bo͞oʹzhē
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -uːʒi
  • CMU ARPABET: B UW1 ZH IY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status, middle-class / bourgeois people (sometimes carrying connotations of fakeness, elitism, or snobbery).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, slang, usually

Qualifier: African-American Vernacular

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: chichi, classy, high and mighty, ritzy, saditty, snobby, snooty, posh

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Fancy or good-looking, without connotations of snobbery or pretentiousness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, UK, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

name

Meaning 3

A surname from French.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

name

Meaning 4

Former name of Béjaïa, Algeria.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A tapered cylindrical instrument for introducing an object into a tubular anatomical structure, or to dilate such a structure, as with an esophageal bougie.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, sciences

Examples

  • 2001, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, Alfred A. Knopf (2001), 12, I was not too sure, as a child, what doctors "did," and glimpses of catheters and bougies in their kidney dishes, retractors and speculums, rubber gloves, catgut thread, and forecepts - all this, I think, rather frightened me, though it fascinated me too.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A wax candle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A person who exhibits bougie behavior.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, slang, usually

Qualifier: chiefly African-American Vernacular

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

Alternative spelling of bowjy (“shed for cattle or sheep”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From bourgeoisie.

Probably of French origin.

Borrowed from French bougie (“wax candle”), after the Algerian city Bougie (Béjaïa), and the tapered, hand-dipped candles it made. The medical instruments were originally made from waxed linen. Doublet of bugia.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Spanish: fichudo — behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status
  • Spanish: fufu — behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status
  • Spanish: fufurufo — behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status
  • Spanish: fifí — behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status
  • Spanish: pseudoburgués — behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status
  • Spanish: fufú — behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status
  • Spanish: pituco — behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status
  • Spanish: pijo — behaving like or pertaining to people of a higher social status
  • Spanish: de postín — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: ficho — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: bucloso — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: popof — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: cheto — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: fresa — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: pijo — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: fresón — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: burgués — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: concheto — fancy or good-looking
  • Spanish: siútico — fancy or good-looking
  • French: bourge — Translations
  • Spanish: fifí — Translations
  • Spanish: pijo — Translations
  • Spanish: pituco — Translations
  • Spanish: fufurufo — Translations
  • Spanish: bucloso — Translations
  • Spanish: fichudo — Translations
  • Spanish: concheto — Translations