# burgess

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbɜːd͡ʒɪs/ · frequency rank #14,286

## Definitions
1. An inhabitant of a borough with full rights; a citizen.
2. A town magistrate.
3. A representative of a borough in the Parliament.
4. A member of the House of Burgesses, a legislative body in colonial America, established by the Virginia Company to provide civil rule in the colonies.

## Etymology
From Middle English burgeis, from Anglo-Norman burgeis, of Proto-Germanic origin; either from Late Latin burgensis (from Latin burgus), or from Frankish *burg, both from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold, city”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ-. See also borough, bourgeois, burgish.

## Easily confused with
- **Burgos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/burgess-vs-burgos)
- **Burmese** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/burgess-vs-burmese)
- **burger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/burger-vs-burgess)
- **Borges** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/borges-vs-burgess)
- **budgets** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/budgets-vs-burgess)

## Common misspellings (9)
`bburgess`, `brugess`, `bugress`, `buregss`, `burges`, `burggess`, `burgses`, `burrgess`, `ubrgess`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/burgess