gentry

See also: Gentry

English

Etymology

From Old French genterise. By surface analysis, gentle (well-born; of a good family or respectable birth) + -ry (suffix indicating "a class, group, or collection of").

Pronunciation

  • enPR: jĕnʹtrē, IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛntɹi/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛntɹi
  • Hyphenation (US): gen‧try

Noun

gentry (countable and uncountable, plural gentries)

  1. Birth; condition; rank by birth.
  2. Courtesy; civility; complaisance.
  3. People of education and good breeding.
  4. (British) In a restricted sense, those people between the nobility and the yeomanry.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.