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patrician

UK/pəˈtɹɪʃən/US/pəˈtɹɪʃən/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,990 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: patricians

A patrician is a member of an old aristocratic family. A patrician family, patrician manners, of patrician stock.

In Rome it was a legal class, and the patricians held the priesthoods and the senate against the plebeians for centuries. In modern use it describes bearing rather than birth, and it is not always a compliment.

Unknown artistUnknown artist · Public domain

Definitions of patrician

  1. 1nounpatricianA member of an old aristocratic family.C1

    “He was a patrician from one of Boston's oldest families.”

patrician is a noble.

Where it comes from

Latin patricius comes from patres, the fathers, meaning the senators of Rome.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *peh₂-

  2. Latin

    patricius

  3. Middle French

    patricien

  4. English, today

    patrician

Built from

  • patrēs cōnscrīptī · Latin — Roman senators

Borrowed from Middle French patricien, from Latin patricius, derived from patrēs cōnscrīptī (“Roman senators”). May also have been derived from Latin patricius + -ian

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

patrician in the wild

  • The patricians (from Latin: patricius) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome.

    Patrician (ancient Rome)

  • The social structure of ancient Rome revolved around the distinction between the patricians and the plebeians.

    Patrician (ancient Rome)

  • Certain gentes were classified as patrician, others as plebeian; some had both patrician and plebeian branches.

    Gens

  • As in Ancient Rome, patrician status could generally only be inherited.

    Patrician (post-Roman Europe)

  • Often, as in Venice, non-patricians had almost no political rights.

    Patrician (post-Roman Europe)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.