Gentry
/ˈdʒɛn.tri/noun
The class of people ranking just below the nobility, especially in historical England.
Did you know?In medieval English, gentry was built from a word meaning “well-born” or “of noble family,” showing how language literally encoded social rank into identity.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ǵenh₁-
“to beget, give birth to”
Latin
Latin
genus
“birth, descent, race, kind”
Old French
OF
gent
“people, nation; noble birth”
Middle English
English
gentrie
“nobility, high birth; the class of gentlefolk”
Modern English
English
gentry
“the class of people below the nobility, especially landowning families”