burgher

Meanings

Plural: burghers

Noun

a citizen of an English borough
a member of the middle class
A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class.
A member of the medieval mercantile class.
A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class.
A citizen of a medieval city.
A prosperous member of the community; a middle-class citizen (may connote complacency).

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English burger, burgher, burghere, equivalent to burgh + -er (“inhabitant of”). Likely merged with and reinforced by Middle Dutch burgher (Modern Dutch: burger); from Middle High German burger (Modern German: Bürger); from Old High German burgāri (“inhabitant of a fortress”); derivative of burg (“fortress, citadel”), from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“fortified elevation”).
Compare also Old English burgwaras (“inhabitants of a burg, burghers, citizens”) and Serbo-Croatian purger. More at borough.

Synonyms

bourgeois, burgess

Scrabble Score: 13

burgher is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
burgher is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
burgher is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 15

burgher is a valid Words With Friends word