Standard Lemma guide

vulgar

adj · noun · 11 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.

  • UK: /ˈvʌl.ɡə/
  • US: vŭlʹgər
  • US: /ˈvʌl.ɡɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ʌlɡə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: V AH1 L G ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Debased; uncouth; distasteful; obscene.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • vulgar language
  • vulgar words
  • a truly vulgar showing of affection
  • vulgar and highly distressing scenes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: inappropriate, debased, uncouth, offensive, ignoble, mean, profane, crass, crude, coarse, adult, bawdy, blue, cheeky, dirty, indecent, filthy, gross, harlot, impure, ithyphallic, lewd, licentious, mucky, naughty, near the knuckle, obscene, off-colour, racy, raunchy, ribald, ribaudred, ribaudrous, risqué, rorty, salacious, saucy, shocking, sluttish, slutlike, slutty, smutty, spicy, tartish, tarty, trampy, vulgar

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Having to do with ordinary, common people.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, historical

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: vulgate; vulgarized

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: common, popular, vulgate, vulgarized

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Common, usual; of the typical kind.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: especially

Topics: biology, natural-sciences, taxonomy

Examples

  • vulgar bush brown (Bicyclus vulgaris)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: customary, ordinary, typical, average, medial, basic, bog-standard, common, commonplace, common-and-garden, common-or-garden, congruent, consistent, conventional, everyday, expected, garden variety, improminent, mundane, natural, normal, par for the course, par, plain, plain vanilla, quotidian, regular, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, standard issue, unexceptional, unremarkable, unstrange, usual, vulgar, wakeaday, workaday

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Being a vulgar fraction.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A common, ordinary person.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The common people.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: collective

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

The language of a people, especially the commoners.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: vulgate, vernacular

Antonyms: none provided

8

adjective satellite

Meaning 8

conspicuously and tastelessly indecent

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • coarse language
  • a crude joke
  • crude behavior
  • an earthy sense of humor
  • a revoltingly gross expletive
  • a vulgar gesture
  • full of language so vulgar it should have been edited

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: crude, earthy, gross

Antonyms: none provided

9

adjective satellite

Meaning 9

being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • common parlance
  • a vernacular term
  • vernacular speakers
  • the vulgar tongue of the masses
  • the technical and vulgar names for an animal species

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: common, vernacular

Antonyms: none provided

10

adjective satellite

Meaning 10

of or associated with the great masses of people

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the common people in those days suffered greatly
  • behavior that branded him as common
  • his square plebeian nose
  • a vulgar and objectionable person
  • the unwashed masses

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: common, plebeian, unwashed

Antonyms: none provided

11

adjective satellite

Meaning 11

lacking refinement or cultivation or taste

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he had coarse manners but a first-rate mind
  • behavior that branded him as common
  • an untutored and uncouth human being
  • an uncouth soldier--a real tough guy
  • appealing to the vulgar taste for violence
  • the vulgar display of the newly rich

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: coarse, common, rough-cut, uncouth

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English vulgare, from Latin vulgāris, from volgus, vulgus (“mob; common folk”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH-. Compare Welsh gwala (“plenty, sufficiency”), Ancient Greek ἁλία (halía, “assembly”), εἰλέω (eiléō, “to compress”), Old Church Slavonic великъ (velikŭ, “great”).

Across languages

Translations

158 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: onbeskaaf — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Afrikaans: ongepoets — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Afrikaans: platvloers — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Afrikaans: vulgêr — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Albanian: vulgar — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Arabic: بَذِيء (baḏīʔ) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Arabic: بذىء (bazīʔ) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Armenian: կոպիտ (kopit) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Asturian: porcaz — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Asturian: vulgar — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Belarusian: вульга́рны (vulʹhárny) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Belarusian: непрысто́йны (njeprystójny) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Bulgarian: вулга́рен (vulgáren) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Bulgarian: неприли́чен (neprilíčen) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Bulgarian: непристо́ен (nepristóen) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Catalan: vulgar — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鄙俗 (bǐsú) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Chinese Mandarin: 粗俗 (cūsú) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Czech: vulgární — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Czech: sprostý — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Czech: hrubý — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Danish: vulgær — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Danish: obskøn — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Danish: uanstændig — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Danish: grov — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Dutch: vulgair — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Dutch: obsceen — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Dutch: smakeloos — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Dutch: ruw — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Dutch: ordinair — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Esperanto: triviala — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Esperanto: vulgara — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Finnish: rivo — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Finnish: vulgaari — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Finnish: alatyylinen — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Finnish: sivistymätön — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • French: vulgaire — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • French: obscène — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Galician: vulgar — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Georgian: უხეში (uxeši) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Georgian: ვულგარული (vulgaruli) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Georgian: უკმეხი (uḳmexi) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Georgian: მდარე (mdare) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • German: vulgär — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • German: unfein — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • German: ungebildet — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • German: unanständig — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • German: ungehobelt — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • German: vulgärsprachlich — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (gamains) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Greek: χυδαίος (chydaíos) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Greek: πρόστυχος (próstychos) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Greek: αγοραίος (agoraíos) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Ancient Greek: βάναυσος (bánausos) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Ancient Greek: φορτικός (phortikós) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Gujarati: અશ્લીલ (aślīl) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Gujarati: બીભત્સ (bībhats) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hebrew: ווּלְגָרִי (vulgári) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hebrew: הֲמוֹנִי (hamoní) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hindi: वल्गर (valgar) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hindi: अश्लील (aślīl) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hungarian: közönséges — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hungarian: otromba — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hungarian: durva — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hungarian: trágár — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Hungarian: vulgáris — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Indonesian: vulgar — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Indonesian: cabul — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Indonesian: kotor — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Indonesian: jorok — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Indonesian: tak senonoh — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Italian: osceno — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Italian: triviale — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Italian: volgare — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Italian: indecente — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Japanese: 卑しい (iyashii) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Japanese: 汚い (kitanai) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Lakota: šikšíl — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Norwegian Bokmål: vulgær — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: vulgær — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Persian: رکیک (rakik) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Persian: مبتذل (mobtazal) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Polish: obsceniczny — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Polish: wulgarny — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Portuguese: vulgar — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Portuguese: obsceno — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Portuguese: indecente — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Romanian: obscen — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Romanian: vulgar — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Russian: вульга́рный (vulʹgárnyj) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Russian: непристо́йный (nepristójnyj) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Russian: неприли́чный (neprilíčnyj) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Russian: по́шлый (póšlyj) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Sanskrit: अनार्य (anārya) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Slovene: vulgaren — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Spanish: vulgar — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Spanish: chabacano — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Spanish: ramplón — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Swedish: vulgär — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Telugu: అశ్లీలము (aślīlamu) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Thai: หยาบคาย (yàap-kaai) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Turkish: kaba — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Ukrainian: вульга́рний (vulʹhárnyj) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Ukrainian: непристо́йний (neprystójnyj) — distasteful, uncouth, obscene
  • Afrikaans: volks — having to do with common people
  • Afrikaans: gewoon — having to do with common people
  • Afrikaans: algemeen — having to do with common people
  • Arabic: شعبى (šáʕbi) — having to do with common people
  • Asturian: vulgar — having to do with common people
  • Bulgarian: простонароден (prostonaroden) — having to do with common people
  • Catalan: vulgar — having to do with common people
  • Chinese Mandarin: 平民的 (píngmín de) — having to do with common people
  • Chinese Mandarin: 庶民的 (shùmín de) — having to do with common people
  • Chinese Mandarin: 百姓的 (bǎixìng de) — having to do with common people
  • Czech: prostý — having to do with common people
  • Czech: lidový — having to do with common people
  • Danish: vulgær — having to do with common people
  • Danish: simpel — having to do with common people
  • Danish: ordinær — having to do with common people
  • Danish: gemen — having to do with common people
  • Danish: plat — having to do with common people
  • Dutch: volks — having to do with common people
  • Dutch: gewoon — having to do with common people
  • Dutch: gemeen — having to do with common people
  • Dutch: ordinair — having to do with common people
  • Esperanto: vulgara — having to do with common people
  • Finnish: kansanomainen — having to do with common people
  • Finnish: rahvaanomainen — having to do with common people
  • Galician: vulgar — having to do with common people
  • Georgian: საყოველთა (saq̇ovelta) — having to do with common people
  • Georgian: გლეხური (glexuri) — having to do with common people
  • German: allgemein — having to do with common people
  • German: ordinär — having to do with common people
  • German: vulgär — having to do with common people
  • German: vulgärsprachlich — having to do with common people
  • German: Volks- — having to do with common people
  • German: volkstümlich — having to do with common people
  • German: gemein — having to do with common people
  • German: gewöhnlich — having to do with common people
  • Greek: κοινός (koinós) — having to do with common people
  • Japanese: 平民の (heimin no) — having to do with common people
  • Japanese: 庶民的な (shominteki na) — having to do with common people
  • Portuguese: vulgar — having to do with common people
  • Portuguese: popular — having to do with common people
  • Portuguese: comum — having to do with common people
  • Romanian: grosolan — having to do with common people
  • Romanian: comun — having to do with common people
  • Romanian: ordinar — having to do with common people
  • Russian: простонаро́дный (prostonaródnyj) — having to do with common people
  • Scottish Gaelic: gràisgeil — having to do with common people
  • Slovene: ljudski — having to do with common people
  • Spanish: vulgar — having to do with common people
  • Spanish: shumo — having to do with common people
  • Swedish: pöbel- — having to do with common people
  • Swedish: pöbelaktig — having to do with common people
  • Swedish: gemen — having to do with common people
  • Ottoman Turkish: بیاغی (bayağı) — having to do with common people
  • Spanish: vulgo — common people