Definitions
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek οἱ (hoi, "the (plural)"), and πολλοί (polloi, "many"). (Wiktionary)
- Greek, the many : hoi, nominative pl. of ho, the; see so- in Indo-European roots + polloi, nominative pl. of polus, many; see pelə-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“We streamed with hoi polloi out onto the cool and rational street and washed up, blinking, beneath a lamppost, ignoring as best we could the buskers and vendors who had anticipated the crowd.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hoi polloi’.
-
nouns
enfleurage, fautor, mafia, haslet, chopine, sea-gate, cantillation, formicary, go-devil, Gongorism, mamzer, mazarine and 147 more...
-
Reduples
Go for it, brothers and sisters! I personally have been suffering long for lack of an open reduplicatives list
happy clappy, bribble-brabble, diddle-daddle, hugger-mugger, kikiriki, Bora-Bora, mahi-mahi, jingle-jangle, knick-knack paddy..., chit-chat, bon-bon, clapperclaw and 292 more...
-
Realia from Everywhere
Culturally defined terms and expressions from the four corners of the world
fjord, mistral steppe, tornado, tsunami, polder, kiwi, koala, sequoia, Abominable Snowman, paprika, spaghetti, empanada and 299 more...
-
awesome words
Words that mean cool things
helmer, gris, vamp, skuld, sapsuckers, couple, mushroom-headed, neologist, grayish-pink, slipstream, toad, bada-bing and 45 more...
-
Slam Fodder
Those words that will inevitable end up in a Slam Poem
feel free to challenge me!:)bumptious, gamekeeper, slamily, burbuliatorius, cryptomnesia, paradox, pulchritudinous, mimetic, anhedonia, skelf, rampike, furlough and 84 more...
-
gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
-
favourite phrases
light pollution, poop deck, inclement weather, pole star, wax poetic, grandfather clock, tea cozy, lunar maria, shotgun wedding, gathering my wits..., pyrrhic victory, scorched earth and 108 more...
-
ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
-
Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
-
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
-
Greek
tetra-, tetralogy, agora, polis, hoi polloi, hoi oligoi, demotic, antichthon
-
word list!!!!
lagniappe
syzygy, bloviate, lagniappe, laconic, condign, umbrage, susurrus, thaumaturgy, capacious, capitulate, glower, repast and 179 more...
-
Wenderful's Whirled World of Blurred ...
Lexicon I likez... in no order whatsoever.
omnivalence, cerebration, sprachgefühl, schadenfreude, rutabaga, septuagenarian, foible, vainglorious, leviathan, remunerative, catastrophize, ancillary and 182 more...
-
List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
-
ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
-
Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hoi polloi.

biocon Gk hoi (οἵ, masc. pl.) = the article "the;" Ionic Gk pοllοί (πολλοί, masc. pl. adjective) = many. Hoi polloi = the many, the majority, the masses, the plebes. Jun 23, 2012
Dan337 Applauds bilby [working the unworkable] The construction bilby describes is also known as tmesis. Sep 19, 2011
bilby Infixes tend to be used by English speakers for dramatic effect or sarcasm; the only non-marked use I can think of right now is with nicknames.
fan-fucking-tastic
James 'Catfish' Hunter
etc.
hoi horny polloi doesn't really work for me in a general sense. It might work in some kind of ironic context:
night lights ahoy!
hourgirls thread their cheap time among
shore-leave sailors, lewdly anonymous tourists and the
hoi horny polloi...
Sep 19, 2011
denmarel OK, I'm busted for my mistaken understanding that hoi polloi referred to the rich upper classes. Would it be OK to insert adjectives e.g. "hoi horny polloi" to describe "the horny masses." I was wondering; just a thought.
Sep 19, 2011
blehfu Our lordly style
You shall not quench
With base canaille!
(That word is French.)
Distinction ebbs
Before a herd
Of vulgar plebs!
(A Latin word.)
’Twould fill with joy,
And madness stark
The oί πoλλoί!
(A Greek remark.)
One Latin word, one Greek remark,
And one that’s French.
- Iolanthe, Gilbert & Sullivan Mar 29, 2010
lea Definitely a favourite of mine. Hoi=ohoy and pollo=chicken. Chickens, hello! Perfect.. in my inner dictionary. The languages I refer to are Finnish and Italian. But you probably knew that. (Ohoi is pirate language in Finnish.) Feb 28, 2009
juicebox the general populace. masses. Mar 1, 2008