English

Adjective

commoner

1. comparative form of common: more common

Usage notes

• The potential for confusion with use of the noun as an adjective, especially in the UK, makes this form less desirable. It is much less commonly used than "more common".

Etymology 2

From Middle English comoner, comyner, cumuner, equivalent to common +‎ -er.

Noun

commoner ‎(plural commoners)

1. A member of the common people who holds no title or rank.
2. (Britain) Someone who is not of noble rank.
   • Hallam

     All below them [the peers], even their children, were commoners, and in the eye of the law equal to each other.

3. (Britain, at Oxbridge universities) An undergraduate who does not hold either a scholarship or an exhibition.
4. (obsolete, Britain, Oxford University) A student who is not dependent on any foundation for support, but pays all university charges; at Cambridge called a pensioner.
5. Someone holding common rights because of residence or land ownership in a particular manor, especially rights on common land.
   • Francis Bacon

     Much good land might be gained from forests […] and from other commonable places, so as always there be a due care taken that the poor commoners have no injury.

6. (obsolete) One sharing with another in anything.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)

7. (obsolete) A prostitute.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Translations