petit bourgeois

[ puh-tee boor-zhwah; pet-ee boor-zhwah, boor-zhwah; French puh-tee boor-zhwa ]

noun

, plural pe·tits bour·geois [p, uh, -, tee, b, oo, r-, zhwahz, pet, -ee , boor, -zhwahz, b, oo, r-, zhwahz, p, uh, -tee boo, r, -, zhwa].

1. a person who belongs to the petite bourgeoisie.

petit bourgeois

/ pəti burʒwa; ˈpɛtɪ ˈbʊəʒwɑː /

noun

1. Also calledpetite bourgeoisiepetty bourgeoisie the section of the middle class with the lowest social status, generally composed of shopkeepers, lower clerical staff, etc
2. a member of this stratum

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the petit bourgeois, esp indicating a sense of self-righteousness and a high degree of conformity to established standards of behaviour

Other Words From

• pe·tit-bour·geois adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of petit bourgeois¹

Borrowed into English from French around 1855–60

Example Sentences

The main Unification Market, the hub for much of the private trading activity in the capital, is “packed with people and bursting with energy,” the visitor said, describing the “petit bourgeois” who shop there.

From Washington Post

Beckham, like Rooney, was born of working-class stock, but his was the right kind: aspirational, smiling, petit bourgeois, of the affluent South East.

From New York Times

Her own origins were lower middle class, petit bourgeois: she had an uncle who was a doctor—the star of the family—but neither of her parents had gone to university.

From The New Yorker

Yet today, when novels “about nothing” abound, a “small affair” seems the perfect size to skewer petit bourgeois pretensions.

From The Guardian

This is not to say that the way I thought of Calcutta was joyless; in fact, my sense of the commonplace aspects of its petit bourgeois life was fundamentally joyful.

From The Guardian