What does bourgeois mean?
Bourgeois denotes someone belonging to the middle class, particularly when that membership implies conventional, materialistic, or socially conservative values. The word entered English from French, where it originally meant simply a townsperson or burgher, and it has since acquired strong connotations that shift with context. In everyday speech it is frequently pejorative, suggesting smugness, dull respectability, or an obsession with comfort and property — the opposite of the romanticised 'bohemian'. In Marxist theory, however, bourgeois has a precise technical sense: it refers to the capitalist class who own the means of production, contrasted with the proletarian workers who sell their labour. As an adjective it describes anything characteristically middle-class, from tastes to political outlook. Its collective noun counterpart, bourgeoisie, refers to the class as a whole. Because of these layered meanings — sociological, ideological, and colloquial — bourgeois remains a versatile and widely used term in cultural criticism and everyday conversation alike.
A member of the middle class, especially one regarded as conventional or materialistic; in Marxist theory, a member of the capitalist class.
"He mocked the bourgeois for caring more about property prices than art."
Characteristic of or relating to the middle class, especially in its conventional, materialistic, or conservative aspects.
"They rejected what they saw as her bourgeois taste in furniture."
The noun 'bourgeois' is typically used without change in the plural; the collective noun 'bourgeoisie' is more common when speaking of the class as a group.
"The novel contrasts artists with the comfortable bourgeois of the town."
Bourgeois literally means 'town-dweller' — it comes from the Old French word for a fortified town, so calling someone bourgeois was once just a way of saying they lived in a city.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bourgeois
Bourgeois derives from Old French 'borjois', meaning a town-dweller or freeman of a borough, ultimately rooted in the Late Latin 'burgus', a fortified town or castle, likely of Germanic origin. It passed into English in the sixteenth century as a noun describing the merchant or professional class of towns. Related English words sharing the same Germanic root include burgess, burgher, and borough, all reflecting the idea of urban settlement and civic status.
Related word forms
How bourgeois is actually used
Often pejorative in modern usage, implying narrow-mindedness, materialism, or dull conformity; in Marxist contexts it carries a specific technical meaning of the capitalist class. The plural form 'bourgeois' is unchanged, though 'bourgeois' can also function attributively.
Easily confused with bourgeois
Bourgeoisie is a collective noun referring to the middle class as a whole, while bourgeois refers to an individual member or describes middle-class qualities.
Burgeois is not a standard English word; the correct spelling for this meaning is always 'bourgeois'.