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publicain

French, noun/py.bli.kɛ̃/

publicain is a French masculine noun meaning “publican (public contractors, who often supplied the Roman legions and military; managed the collection of port duties; oversaw public…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Fermier des deniers publics, chez les Romains”.

What does publicain mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    masculinepublican (public contractors, who often supplied the Roman legions and military; managed the collection of port duties; oversaw public building projects; served as tax collectors, farming the taxes of the Roman provinces, and bidding on contracts for the collection of various types of taxes)

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Fermier des deniers publics, chez les Romains. 2. Collecteur subalterne juif, au service de l’occupant romain, détesté par la population locale. 3. Percepteur, collecteur, financier, ou quiconque est chargé de percevoir les deniers publics. 4. Personne cupide, avare, vénale, qui cherche à faire du profit.

adjective: 1. Relatif à Publy, commune française située dans le département du Jura.

noun: 1. Habitant de Publy, commune française située dans le département du Jura.

The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.

Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of publicain

  • publicains plural
  • publicaine feminine
  • publicaines plural feminine
  • Publicains plural
  • Publicaine feminine

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

How do you pronounce publicain?

  • /py.bli.kɛ̃/
  • \py.bli.kɛ̃\

Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.

English words that translate to publicain

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is publicain in French?

publicain appears about once in every 14 million words in written French.

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