# burgher

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #81,190

## Definitions
1. A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class.
2. A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class.
3. A prosperous member of the community; a middle-class citizen (may connote complacency).

## 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.

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