nouveau riche

English edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French nouveau riche (literally “new rich”).

Pronunciation edit

(UK, Anglicised) IPA^(key): /ˌnuː.vəʊ ˈɹiːʃ/
(US, Anglicised) IPA^(key): /ˌnu.voʊ ˈɹiʃ/, /ˌnu.voʊ ˈɹɪtʃ/
Rhymes: -ɪtʃ

Noun edit

nouveau riche (countable and uncountable, plural nouveaux riches)

(derogatory) New money; wealthy persons whose fortunes are newly acquired, and who are therefore perceived to lack the refinement of those who were raised wealthy.
Synonyms: parvenu, arriviste, neo-rich

Antonyms: vieux riche, nouveau pauvre
- 1873, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter VII, in The Parisians‎^[1], book III:
  You must find your opening at Paris. I wish you to spend a year in the capital, and live, not extravagantly, like a nouveau riche, but in a way not unsuited to your rank, and permitting you all the social advantages that belong to it.
- 1921, Lord Frederic Hamilton, Here, There And Everywhere‎^[2]:
  Twenty-four hours later we were both in the vast halls of the Winter Palace in full uniform, as bedizened with gold as a nouveau riche’s drawing-room.

Usage notes edit

nouveau riche is sometimes treated as a singular noun with the plural nouveaux riches and sometimes as a plural noun with no separate singular form.

Derived terms edit

new nouveau riche

Translations edit

new money: wealthy persons whose fortunes are newly acquired, and who are therefore perceived to lack the refinement of those who were raised wealthy

Afrikaans: nuweryk, nuwegeld
Albanian: pasur e ri, paratë e ri
Arabic: مُحْدَث اَلنَّعْمَة‎ m (muḥdaṯ an-naʕma)
Armenian: նորահարուստ (hy) (noraharust)
Belarusian: новыбагаты (nóvybahaty)
Bulgarian: новобогата́ш m (novobogatáš)
Burmese: လူချမ်းသာအသစ် (luhkyam:saa.sac)
Catalan: nou-ric (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 暴發戶／暴发户 (zh) (bàofāhù)

Cantonese: 暴發戶／暴发户 (bou⁶ faat³ wu⁶)
Czech: zbohatlík m
Esperanto: novriĉulo
Finnish: uusrikkaat pl
French: nouveau riche (fr), arriviste (fr) m or f, parvenu (fr) m
German: Neureicher (de) m, Emporkömmling (de) m, Parvenü (de) m
Greek: νεόπλουτος (el) m (neóploutos)
Hebrew: נוּבּוֹרֶישֶׁ‎ (he) (nuvórish)
Hindi: नए अमीर (nae amīr), कल का नवाब (kal kā navāb)
Hungarian: újgazdag (hu), parvenü (hu), jöttment (hu)
Icelandic: nýríkur maður m
Indonesian: orang kaya baru
Irish: lucht an nuashaibhris
Japanese: 成り金 (なりきん, narikin), 成り上がり者 (なりあがりもの, nariagarimono), 出来星 (ja) (できぼし, dekiboshi)
Korean: 졸부 (jolbu), 벼락부자 (byeorakbuja), 돈주 (donju) (North Korea)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: dinyanedîtî (ku)
Lithuanian: iškilėlis
Mongolian: шинэбаян (šinebajan)
Persian: نودولتان‎ (noddoltân)
Polish: nowobogacki (pl) m, nuworysz (pl) m, nowobogacz, dorobkiewicz (pl) m, parweniusz (pl) m
Portuguese: novo-rico (pt) m
Romanian: parvenit (ro) m, ajuns (ro) m, căpătuit (ro) m
Russian: нувори́ш (ru) m (nuvoríš), парвеню́ (ru) m (parvenjú), вы́скочка (ru) m or f (výskočka)
Serbo-Croatian:
Roman: skorojević m, skorojevićka f
Spanish: nuevo rico (es) m
Swahili: tajiri mpya
Swedish: nyrik (sv)
Tagalog: bagong-yaman, biglang-yaman
Tamil: புதிய பணக்காரர்கள் (putiya paṇakkārarkaḷ)
Turkish: sonradan görme (tr), kıro (tr)
Vietnamese: nhà giàu mới nổi
Zulu: ocebile omusha

Adjective edit

nouveau riche (not comparable)

Newly rich; like a nouveau riche.
- 1899, Edith Wharton, “A Cup of Cold Water”, in The Greater Inclination‎^[3]:
  Her supreme charm was the simplicity that comes of taking it for granted that people are born with carriages and country-places: it never occurred to her that such congenital attributes could be matter for self-consciousness, and she had none of the nouveau riche prudery which classes poverty with the nude in art and is not sure how to behave in the presence of either.