vulgar

See also: vulgär and vulgær

Contents

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvʌl.ɡə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvʌl.ɡɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

vulgar (comparative vulgarer or more vulgar, superlative vulgarest or most vulgar)

1. Debased, uncouth, distasteful, obscene.
   • 1551, James A.H. Murray, editor, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society.‎^[1], volume 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1888, Part 1, page 217:

     Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples not onely vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber.

   • The construction worker made a vulgar suggestion to the girls walking down the street.
2. (classical sense) Having to do with ordinary, common people.
   • Bishop Fell

     It might be more useful to the English reader […] to write in our vulgar language.

   • Bancroft

     The mechanical process of multiplying books had brought the New Testament in the vulgar tongue within the reach of every class.

   • 1860, G. Syffarth, "A Remarkable Seal in Dr. Abbott's Museum at New York", Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis‎, age 265

     Further, the same sacred name in other monuments precedes the vulgar name of King Takellothis, the sixth of the XXII. Dyn., as we have seen.

Synonyms

• (obscene): inappropriate, obscene, debased, uncouth, offensive, ignoble, mean, profane
• (ordinary): common, ordinary, popular

Derived terms

• (obscene): vulgarity, vulgarian
• (ordinary): vulgar fraction, vulgate, Vulgate
• vulgar fraction

Translations

obscene

• Afrikaans: onbeskaaf, ongepoets, platvloers, vulgêr
• Armenian: կոպիտ (hy) (kopit)
• Catalan: vulgar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鄙俗 (zh) (bǐsú), 粗俗 (zh) (cūsú)

• Czech: vulgární (cs), sprostý (cs) m, hrubý (cs) m
• Danish: vulgær (da), (dated) obskøn, uanstændig
• Dutch: vulgair (nl), obsceen (nl), smakeloos (nl), ruw (nl), ordinair (nl)
• Esperanto: triviala
• Finnish: rivo (fi), vulgaari (fi), alatyylinen (linguistics), sivistymätön (fi)
• French: vulgaire (fr) m, f, obscène (fr) m, f
• German: vulgär (de), unfein, ungebildet (de), unanständig (de), ungehobelt (de), vulgärsprachlich (de)
• Greek: χυδαίος (el) m (chydaíos), πρόστυχος (el) m (próstychos), αγοραίος (el) m (agoraíos)

  Ancient Greek: βάναυσος (bánausos)

• Hungarian: közönséges (hu), otromba (hu), durva (hu), trágár (hu), vulgáris (hu)
• Indonesian: vulgar (id), cabul (id), kotor (id), jorok (id), tak senonoh

• Italian: osceno (it), triviale (it), volgare (it), indecente (it)
• Japanese: 卑しい (iyashii), 汚い (ja) (kitanai)
• Lakota: šikšíl
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vulgær (no)

  Nynorsk: vulgær

• Persian: رکيک‎ (rakik), مبتذل‎ (fa) (mobtazal)
• Polish: obsceniczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: vulgar (pt) m, f, obsceno (pt) m, indecente (pt) m, f
• Romanian: obscen (ro) m, n, vulgar (ro) m, n
• Russian: вульга́рный (ru) (vulʹgárnyj), непристо́йный (ru) (nepristójnyj), неприли́чный (ru) (neprilíčnyj), по́шлый (ru) (póšlyj)
• Slovene: vulgaren (sl)
• Spanish: vulgar (es)
• Swedish: vulgär (sv)
• Turkish: kaba (tr)

having to do with common people

• Afrikaans: volks, gewoon (af), algemeen (af)
• Catalan: vulgar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平民的 (zh) (píngmín de), 庶民的 (zh) (shùmín de), 百姓的 (zh) (bǎixìng de)

• Czech: prostý (cs) m, lidový (cs) m
• Danish: vulgær (da), simpel, ordinær, (dated) gemen
• Dutch: volks (nl), gewoon (nl), gemeen (nl), ordinair (nl)
• Esperanto: vulgara
• Finnish: kansanomainen (fi), rahvaanomainen (fi)
• Galician: vulgar

• German: allgemein (de), ordinär (de), vulgär (de), vulgärsprachlich (de), Volks-, volkstümlich (de), gemein (de), gewöhnlich (de)
• Greek: κοινός (el) m (koinós)
• Japanese: 平民の (ja) (heimin no), 庶民的な (shominteki na)
• Portuguese: vulgar (pt) m, f, popular (pt) m, f, comum (pt) m, f
• Romanian: grosolan (ro) m, n, comun (ro) m, n, ordinar (ro) m, n, ordinară f
• Russian: простонаро́дный (ru) (prostonaródnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: gràisgeil
• Slovene: ljudski
• Spanish: vulgar (es)
• Swedish: vulgär (sv), pöbel-, pöbelaktig, gemen (sv)

Noun

vulgar (plural vulgars)

1. (classicism) A common, ordinary person.
   • 2016, Evan Gottlieb, Juliet Shields, Representing Place in British Literature and Culture, 1660-1830

     Popular antiquarian writings […] frequently focused on the regional vulgars' superstitious beliefs regarding the dead and their ongoing presence—such as popular funeral rites or the vulgars' fear of church yards.

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Catalan

Adjective

vulgar (masculine and feminine plural vulgars)

1. vulgar

Derived terms

• vulgarment

Related terms

• vulgaritat

Further reading

• “vulgar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Galician

Etymology

From Latin vulgāris.

Adjective

vulgar m, f (plural vulgares)

1. common to the people, vulgar
2. ordinary, undistinguished
3. popular, commonly understood, as opposed to scientific or technical
4. simple, unintelligent

Synonyms

• (ordinary): prosaico
• (popular): común, popular

Antonyms

• (popular): científico, técnico

Related terms

• vulgaridade
• vulgarismo
• vulgo

Further reading

• “vulgar” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin vulgāris.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /vuɫ.ˈɣaɾ/
• Hyphenation: vul‧gar

Adjective

vulgar (plural vulgares, comparable)

1. common to the people, vulgar
2. ordinary, undistinguished
3. popular, commonly understood, as opposed to scientific or technical
4. simple, unintelligent

Synonyms

• (ordinary): prosaico
• (popular): comum, popular

Antonyms

• (popular): científico, técnico

Related terms

• vulgaridade
• vulgarismo
• vulgo

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French vulgaire, Latin vulgaris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vulˈɡar/

Adjective

vulgar m, n (feminine singular vulgară, masculine plural vulgari, feminine and neuter plural vulgare)

1. vulgar

Declension

declension of vulgar

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	vulgar		vulgară	vulgari	vulgare
	definite	vulgarul		vulgara	vulgarii	vulgarele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	vulgar		vulgare	vulgari	vulgare
	definite	vulgarului		vulgarei	vulgarilor	vulgarelor

Synonyms

• grosolan
• ordinar
• comun

Related terms

• vulg

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin vulgāris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bulˈɡaɾ/

Adjective

vulgar (plural vulgares)

1. vulgar

Related terms

• vulgo
• vulgaridad

Further reading

• “vulgar” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.