posh
/pɑʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.40 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Associated with the upper classes.
adj
Snobbish, materialistic, prejudiced, under the illusion that one is better than everyone else.
Offensive
intj
Example Sentences
- "She talks with a posh accent."
- "In antenatal clinic, an extremely posh patient attends for a routine appointment. All is well with her extremely posh fetus. Her extremely posh eight-year-old asks her a question about the economy (!), and before she answers, she asks her extremely posh five-year-old, ‘Do you know what the economy is, darling?’ ’Yes, Mummy. It’s the part of the plane that’s terrible.’"
- "Near-synonym: plush"
- "After the performance, they went out to a very posh restaurant."
- "“Miss Shaw’s got a new frock,” said Harriet. ”So she has! How posh of her! […]”"
- "Jan Petter Vala is serving part of a 10-year murder sentence on a posh island in southern Norway."
Etymology
Unknown. Most likely derived from Romani posh (“half”), either because posh-kooroona (“half a crown”) (originally a substantial sum of money) was used metaphorically for anything pricey or upper-class, or because posh-houri (“half-penny”) came to refer to money generally. A period slang dictionary defines "posh" as a term used by thieves for "money : generic, but specifically, a halfpenny or other small coin". An example is given from James Payn's The Eavesdropper (1888): "They used such funny terms: 'brads,' and 'dibbs,' and 'mopusses,' and 'posh' ... at last it was borne in upon me that they were talking about money." Evidence exists for a slang sense from the 1890s meaning dandy, which is quite possibly related. A popular folk etymology holds that the term is an acronym for "port out, starboard home", describing the cooler, north-facing cabins taken by the most aristocratic or rich passengers travelling from Britain to India and back. However, there is no evidence for this claim. It could also possibly be a clipping of polished. See also the articles mentioned in the References section below for additional discussion.
Word Breakdown
- Root: posh
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɑʃ/
- British English: /pɒʃ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
posher (comparative)
more posh (comparative)
poshest (superlative)
most posh (superlative)
poshes (plural)
poshes (present, singular)
poshing (participle, present)
poshed (participle, past)
poshed (past)