pedestrian

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedester, root pedestri- (from pedes) + -an (suffix forming adjectives).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• enPR: pə-dĕʹstrē-ən
• IPA^(key): /pəˈdɛst.ɹi.ən/

Adjective

pedestrian (comparative more pedestrian, superlative most pedestrian)

1. (not comparable) Of or intended for those who are walking.

   pedestrian crossing

   pedestrian zone

2. (comparable, figuratively) Ordinary, dull; everyday; unexceptional.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:common

   His manner of dress was pedestrian but tidy.

   a pedestrian life

   • 2016 June 11, Phil McNulty, “England 1-1 Russia”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     England were hugely impressive in the first half in particular, when their supporters inside this magnificent bowl at Stade Velodrome roared their approval as Russia were pressed into submission and made to look pedestrian.

3. (dance) Pertaining to ordinary, everyday movements incorporated in postmodern dance.

   The choreographer prefers pedestrian movements.

Translations

of or intended for pedestrians

• Armenian: հետիոտնային (hetiotnayin)
• Basque: oinezkoentzako
• Belarusian: пешахо́дны (pješaxódny)
• Bulgarian: пешеходен (pešehoden)
• Catalan: de vianants
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行人的 (zh) (xíngrén de), 行者的 (zh) (xíngzhě de)

• Czech: pěší (cs) m
• Dutch: voetgangers-
• Esperanto: piediranta
• Finnish: jalankulku, jalka (fi)
• French: piéton (fr), piétonnier (fr), pédestre (fr)
• Galician: peonil (gl) m or f

• Georgian: საფეხმავლო (sapexmavlo), საქვეითო (sakveito)
• German: Fußgänger-, fußgänger-, Fuß-, fuß-, Geh-, geh-
• Hungarian: gyalogos (hu)
• Ido: pedirala (io)
• Italian: pedonale (it)
• Macedonian: пешачки m (pešački)
• Polish: pieszy (pl) m, dla pieszych
• Portuguese: pedestre (pt), pedonal m or f
• Romanian: pentru pietoni, pedestru (ro), pietonal (ro)
• Russian: пе́ший (ru) (péšij), пешехо́дный (ru) (pešexódnyj)
• Spanish: peatonal
• Turkish: yaya (tr)
• Ukrainian: пішохі́дний (pišoxídnyj)

ordinary

• Catalan: banal (ca), ordinari (ca), comú (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無趣的 (zh), 无趣的 (zh) (wúqù de)

• Czech: přízemní (cs)
• Dutch: gewoon (nl), alledaags (nl), gewoontjes (nl) (only predicative or adverbial)
• Finnish: mitäänsanomaton (fi)
• French: banal (fr), ordinaire (fr), bateau (fr)

• German: umständlich (de), nüchtern (de), schwunglos, prosaisch (de), erdgebunden
• Latin: cotidianus (la)
• Persian: معمولی‎ (fa) (ma'muli)
• Polish: przyziemny (pl) m
• Portuguese: prosaico (pt), comum (pt)
• Romanian: prozaic (ro) m or n, comun (ro) m or n, neinspirat (ro) m or n
• Russian: обы́чный (ru) (obýčnyj), зауря́дный (ru) (zaurjádnyj)
• Spanish: común (es), prosaico (es), banal (es), pedestre (es), vulgar (es)

Noun

pedestrian (plural pedestrians)

1. A walker; one who walks or goes on foot, especially as opposed to one who uses a vehicle.

   Synonyms: footer, footgoer, footfarer

   Hyponym: (archaic) footman

2. (dated) An expert or professional walker or runner; one who performs feats of walking or running.

   Synonym: walkist

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ped-‎ (0 c, 48 e)

Translations

somebody walking rather than using a vehicle

• Afrikaans: voetganger sg
• Albanian: këmbësor (sq) m
• Arabic: رَاجِل‎ m (rājil), مَاشٍ‎ m (māšin), مَارّ‎ (ar) m (mārr)
• Armenian: հետիոտն (hy) (hetiotn)
• Asturian: peatón m
• Azerbaijani: piyada (az)
• Basque: oinezko sg
• Belarusian: пешахо́д m (pješaxód), хада́к m (xadák)
• Bulgarian: пешехо́дец (bg) m (pešehódec)
• Catalan: vianant (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行人 (zh) (xíngrén), (formal) 行者 (zh) (xíngzhě)

• Czech: chodec (cs) m
• Danish: fodgænger (da) c
• Dutch: voetganger (nl) m, voetgangster f
• Esperanto: (♂♀) piediranto, (explicitly ♂) virpiediranto, (neologism ♂) piedirantiĉo, (♀) piedirantino
• Estonian: jalakäija
• Finnish: jalankulkija (fi)
• French: piéton (fr) m, piétonne (fr) f
• Galician: peón (gl) m, viandante m or f
• Georgian: ქვეითი (kveiti), ფეხით მოსიარულე (pexit mosiarule)
• German: Fußgänger (de) m, Fußgängerin (de) f, (Austrian) Fußgeher (de) m, (Austrian) Fußgeherin (de) f, Passant (de) m, Passantin (de) f
• Greek: πεζός (el) m (pezós)
• Hebrew: הוֹלֵךְ־רֶגֶל‎ (he) m (holékh-régel), הוֹלֶכֶת־רֶגֶל‎ m (holékhet-régel)
• Hindi: प्यादा (hi) m (pyādā), पैदल (hi) m (paidal)
• Hungarian: gyalogos (hu)
• Icelandic: fótgangandi (is) m
• Ido: (♂♀) pediranto (io), (♂) pedirantulo, (♀) pedirantino
• Indonesian: pejalan kaki (id)
• Irish: coisí m
• Italian: pedone (it) m
• Japanese: 歩行者 (ja) (ほこうしゃ, hokōsha)

• Kannada: ಕಾಲುದಾರಿ (kn) (kāludāri), ಕಾಲ್ನಡೆಗ (kn) (kālnaḍega), ಪಾದಚಾರಿ (kn) (pādacāri)
• Kazakh: жаяу адам (jaäu adam)
• Khmer: ចរក (km) (chârôk), ថ្មើរជើង (thmaə cəəng)
• Korean: 보행자(步行者) (ko) (bohaengja)
• Kyrgyz: жөө жүрүүчү (jöö jürüüçü)
• Latvian: kājāmgājējs m, gājējs m
• Lithuanian: pėstysis m
• Luxembourgish: Foussgänger m
• Macedonian: пешак m (pešak)
• Malayalam: കാൽനടക്കാരൻ m (kālnaṭakkāraṉ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fotgjenger (no) m

  Nynorsk: fotgjengar m

• Persian: پیاده‎ (fa) (piyâde), پیاده‎ (fa) (piyaade)
• Polish: pieszy (pl) m
• Portuguese: peão (pt) m, pedestre (pt) m or f
• Romanian: pieton (ro) m, pedestru (ro) m
• Russian: пешехо́д (ru) m (pešexód), пешехо́дка (ru) f (pešexódka), пе́ший (ru) m (péšij), пе́шая f (péšaja), пешехо́дец (ru) m (pešexódec) (dated)
• Scottish Gaelic: coisiche m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пѐша̄к m, пјѐша̄к m

  Roman: pèšāk (sh) m, pjèšāk (sh) m

• Slovak: chodec (sk) m
• Slovene: pešec m, peška (sl) f
• Spanish: peatón (es) m, viandante m or f
• Swedish: fotgängare (sv) c
• Tajik: пиёда (tg) (piyoda), пиёдагард (tg) (piyodagard)
• Thai: คนเดินเท้า, ผู้เดินเท้า
• Turkish: yaya (tr)
• Turkmen: pyýada
• Ukrainian: пішохі́д m (pišoxíd), пі́ший m (píšyj)
• Uzbek: piyoda (uz)
• Vietnamese: bằng chân
• Volapük: (♂♀) futogolan (vo), (♂) futohigolan, (♀) futojigolan

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “pedestrian”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• depainters, pedantries, prestained, præsident