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publican

pub·lic·an/ˈpʌblək(ə)n/noun

publican is spelled P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N: 8 letters and 3 syllables (pub·lic·an). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,337th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, publican means “The landlord (manager or owner) of a public house (“a bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging; a pub”)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of publican is publicans.

How many letters and syllables are in publican?

Letters8: P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N
Syllables3: pub·lic·an
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 52,337th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is publican?

Publican appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,337th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce publican?

  • UK /ˈpʌblɪk(ə)n/
  • US /ˈpʌblək(ə)n/

Publican has 3 syllables, split pub·lic·an in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-publican.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of publican

  • publicans plural
  • publicane
  • puplican

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does publican mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    IrelandUKThe landlord (manager or owner) of a public house (“a bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging; a pub”).

  2. 2

    CommonwealthThe manager or owner of a hotel.

  3. 3

    A tax collector, especially one working in Judea and Galilee during New Testament times (1st century C.E.) who was generally regarded as sinful for extorting more tax than was due, and as a traitor for serving the Roman Empire.

  4. 4

    archaicAny person who collects customs duties, taxes, tolls, or other forms of public revenue.

  5. 5

    archaicOne regarded as extorting money from others by charging high prices.

  6. 6

    archaicA person excommunicated from the church; an excommunicant or excommunicate; also, a person who does not follow a Christian religion; a heathen, a pagan.

noun

as Publican
  1. 1

    Synonym of Arnoldist.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Publican in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpatron de bistro, patronne de bistro, bistrot (landlord of a public house), publicain (tax collector, especially one working in Judea…)
GermanWirt, Schankwirt, Gastwirt, Kneipenwirt (landlord of a public house), Zöllner (tax collector, especially one working in Judea…)
Portuguesepublicano (tax collector, especially one working in Judea…)
Spanishpublicano (tax collector, especially one working in Judea…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does publican come from?

Probably from public house (“(Britain) bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging, pub”) or public (“open to all members of a community”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns), apparently originally used humorously.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after publican