Word
hodge
Phoneticshodge
/ˈhɑdʒ/
Definition
n. a name used in the past to talk about a typical English farmer or country worker. It was often used by people from the city to sound superior.
n. a stereotypical name for an English agricultural labourer or rustic. Often carries a patronising or derogatory tone in historical literature.
Examples
“The old stories often featured a character named Hodge.”
“Victorian writers sometimes used the name Hodge to represent the entire class of rural workers.”
“While the term Hodge was once a common shorthand for the English peasantry, modern historians critique it for erasing the individual identities of the rural poor.”
Examples
simple
“The old stories often featured a character named Hodge.”
contextual
“Victorian writers sometimes used the name Hodge to represent the entire class of rural workers.”
complex
“While the term Hodge was once a common shorthand for the English peasantry, modern historians critique it for erasing the individual identities of the rural poor.”
Usage
When used as a proper noun, it identifies a specific character; as a common noun, it acts as a generic label for a rustic person.
Etymology
From a Middle English diminutive of the given name Roger. The substitution of H for R is common in English words derived from Norman French.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/hodge