Translation guide
Refers to the lower middle class, often with connotations of conventionality, materialism, and narrow-mindedness. In Japanese, it can be expressed through direct loanwords, native terms for social class, or descriptive phrases capturing the associated attitudes.
Referring to the social class of small business owners, shopkeepers, and white-collar workers with modest means.
Describing the stereotypical mindset associated with the petit bourgeois: concern with respectability, material possessions, and conventional values.
Adjectival phrase meaning 'petit bourgeois' in attitude or mentality, often implying conventionality and lack of imagination.
彼の趣味は小市民的だ。
His tastes are petit bourgeois.
プチブル is a direct loanword often used in political or sociological discussions, while 小市民 is more literary and focuses on the lifestyle and mentality. 小市民的 is the most common way to describe someone's petit bourgeois attitudes.
Do not translate 'petit bourgeois' word-for-word as 小さいブルジョア. Use the established loanword プチブル or the natural Japanese equivalents provided.
He was born into a petit bourgeois family.
Japanese translation of 'petit bourgeois', literally 'small bourgeois'. Used in political or economic contexts.
小ブルジョアの意識が強い。
They have a strong petit bourgeois consciousness.
Literally 'lower middle class', a more descriptive and neutral sociological term.
下層中産階級の生活は安定しているとは言えない。
The life of the lower middle class cannot be called stable.
Literally 'petty citizen', often used to describe the petit bourgeois lifestyle or mentality, sometimes with a negative nuance of narrow-mindedness.
小市民的な考え方から抜け出せない。
They can't escape from a petit bourgeois way of thinking.
They seek petit bourgeois happiness.
Adjectival form of the loanword, used similarly to describe petit bourgeois attitudes.
プチブル的な発想だね。
That's a petit bourgeois way of thinking.
Means 'philistine' or 'vulgar', capturing the materialistic and conventional side of petit bourgeois mentality.
俗物的な価値観に染まっている。
They are steeped in philistine values.
Adjective meaning 'petty', 'narrow-minded', or 'small-scale', often used to describe a petit bourgeois lifestyle or mindset.
せせこましい生活は嫌だ。
I hate a narrow, petit bourgeois life.