Standard Lemma guide

bourgeoisie

noun · 3 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.

  • /ˌbʊə(ɹ)ʒwɑːˈziː/
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: B UH2 R ZH W AA2 Z IY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A class of citizens who were wealthier members of the third estate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical, uncountable, usually

Examples

  • For quotations using this term, see Citations:bourgeoisie.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The capitalist class.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Marxism, uncountable, usually

Examples

  • For quotations using this term, see Citations:bourgeoisie.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the social class between the lower and upper classes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: middle class

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: class, stratum, social class, socio-economic class

Narrower terms: petit bourgeois, petite bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie

History

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bourgeoisie, from bourgeois (“a class of citizens who were wealthier members of the Third Estate”), from bourgeois, “burghers”, i.e., townspeople.

Across languages

Translations

86 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: borgjezi — class
  • Arabic: بُرْجُوَازِيَّة (burjuwāziyya) — class
  • Armenian: բուրժուազիա (buržuazia) — class
  • Azerbaijani: burjuaziya — class
  • Basque: burgesia — class
  • Belarusian: буржуазі́я (buržuazíja) — class
  • Belarusian: мяшча́нства (mjaščánstva) — class
  • Bengali: বুর্জোয়াশ্রেণী (burjōẇasreni) — class
  • Bengali: বুর্জোয়া (burjōẇa) — class
  • Bulgarian: буржоа́зия (buržoázija) — class
  • Burmese: ဘူဇွာ (bhujwa) — class
  • Catalan: burgesia — class
  • Chinese Mandarin: 資產階級 /资产阶级 (zīchǎn jiējí) — class
  • Chinese Mandarin: 布爾喬亞 /布尔乔亚 (bù'ěrqiáoyà) — class
  • Chinese Mandarin: 中產階級 /中产阶级 (zhōngchǎn jiējí) — class
  • Cornish: burjeseth — class
  • Czech: buržoazie — class
  • Danish: borgerskab — class
  • Danish: bourgeoisi — class
  • Dutch: bourgeoisie — class
  • Dutch: gegoede burgerij — class
  • Dutch: burgerklasse — class
  • Esperanto: burĝaro — class
  • Estonian: kodanlus — class
  • Finnish: porvaristo — class
  • French: bourgeoisie — class
  • Georgian: ბურჟუაზია (buržuazia) — class
  • German: Bürgertum — class
  • German: Bourgeoisie — class
  • Greek: μπουρζουαζία (bourzouazía) — class
  • Greek: αστική τάξη (astikí táxi) — class
  • Hebrew: בּוּרְגָּנוּת (burganút) — class
  • Hindi: बुर्जुआ (burjuā) — class
  • Hungarian: burzsoázia — class
  • Hungarian: tőkés osztály — class
  • Hungarian: polgárság — class
  • Hungarian: nagypolgárság — class
  • Icelandic: borgarastétt — class
  • Ido: borgezo — class
  • Indonesian: borjuis — class
  • Irish: meánaicme — class
  • Italian: borghesia — class
  • Japanese: 中産階級 (chūsan kaikyū) — class
  • Japanese: ブルジョワジー (burujowajī) — class
  • Kazakh: буржуазия (burjuaziä) — class
  • Khmer: គហបតី (kĕəʼhaʼpaʼdəy) — class
  • Korean: 부르주아지 (bureujuaji) — class
  • Korean: 중산계급 (jungsan'gyegeup) — class
  • Northern Kurdish: burjuvazî — class
  • Kyrgyz: буржуазия (burjuaziya) — class
  • Lao: ກະດຸມພີ (ka dum phī) — class
  • Latvian: buržuāzija — class
  • Lithuanian: buržuazija — class
  • Macedonian: буржоазија (buržoazija) — class
  • Malay: borjuis — class
  • Mongolian: хөрөнгөтөн (xöröngötön) — class
  • Norwegian Bokmål: borgerskap — class
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bursjoasi — class
  • Pashto: بورژوازي (boržwāzi) — class
  • Iranian Persian: بورْژُوازی (buržovâzi) — class
  • Polish: burżuazja — class
  • Polish: mieszczaństwo — class
  • Portuguese: burguesia — class
  • Romanian: burghezie — class
  • Romanian: burghezime — class
  • Russian: буржуази́я (buržuazíja) — class
  • Serbo-Croatian: буржоа́зија — class
  • Serbo-Croatian: buržoázija — class
  • Slovak: buržoázia — class
  • Slovene: buržoazija — class
  • Slovene: meščanstvo — class
  • Spanish: burguesía — class
  • Swedish: bourgeoisie — class
  • Swedish: borgerskap — class
  • Tagalog: arian — class
  • Tagalog: burgesya — class
  • Tajik: буржуазия (buržuaziya) — class
  • Thai: กระฎุมพี (grà-dum-pii) — class
  • Turkish: burjuvazi — class
  • Turkmen: buržuaziýa — class
  • Ukrainian: буржуазі́я (buržuazíja) — class
  • Ukrainian: міща́нство (miščánstvo) — class
  • Urdu: بُرْجُوا (burjuā) — class
  • Urdu: بُورْژُوازی (būrźuāzī) — class
  • Uzbek: burjuaziya — class
  • Vietnamese: giai cấp tư sản — class
Real reading context

bourgeoisie in complete knowledge articles