Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Used as a disparaging term for a British person, especially a recent immigrant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, derogatory A pom; a person of British descent, a Briton; an Englishman.
  • adjective Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, sometimes pejorative English; British.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Shortening and alteration of pomegranate, Pummy Grant, alterations of Jimmy Grant, probably rhyming alteration of immigrant.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From pom +‎ -y (“diminutive suffix”). Australian from 1912.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pommy.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "He was a waistcoat and watch chain type and he spoke like the pommy officers Lester remembered from his days in the Light Horse."

    Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, p 65 of the Graywolf Press hardcover edition

    March 30, 2010