pleb
adjEtymology A clipping of plebeian and plebe, sometimes also understood as a back-formation from plebs.
1
Of or concerning the lower class of a society.
2
Derogatory Undistinguished, commonplace, unsophisticated, vulgar, coarse.
pleb
noun/plɛb/
Etymology A clipping of plebeian and plebe, sometimes also understood as a back-formation from plebs.
1
A commoner; a member of the lower class of a society.
2
Derogatory A common person; an unsophisticated or cultureless person.
- You're under my roof, you pleb.1795, John O'Keeffe, Life's Vagaries, act V, scene ii, line 85:
3
US, Derogatory, Slang, Usually A freshman cadet at a military academy.
- I found some of the novices, plebs they are called, home-sick, and weary with their discipline.1838, Caroline H. Gilman, The Poetry of Travelling in the United States..., page 76:
- At Annapolis, the natives are crabs, the freshmen plebs, the sophomores youngsters.1922, Dialect Notes, number 5, American Dialect Society, page 189:
- Derived terms
- Plebbit, plebby, Plebgate