pedestrian

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedester, root pedestri- (from pedes) + -an (suffix forming adjectives).

Pronunciation

• enPR: pə-dĕʹstrē-ən, IPA^(key): /pəˈdɛst.ɹi.ən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

pedestrian (comparative more pedestrian, superlative most pedestrian)

1. (not comparable) Of or intended for those who are walking.

   pedestrian crossing

   pedestrian zone

   • 2016, Alan Marshall, Ecotopia 2121: A Vision for Our Future Green Utopia in 100 Cities:

     The piezoelectric pedestrian tubeways depicted for Shanghai 2121 will provide all-weather pedestrian transportation citywide.

2. (comparable, figurative) Ordinary, dull; everyday; unexceptional.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:common

   His manner of dress was pedestrian but tidy.

   a pedestrian life

   • 2016 June 11, Phil McNulty, “England 1-1 Russia”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     England were hugely impressive in the first half in particular, when their supporters inside this magnificent bowl at Stade Velodrome roared their approval as Russia were pressed into submission and made to look pedestrian.

   • 2016, Paradox Interactive, Stellaris (video game), scene: Anomaly Event 3086:

     Their prose is pedestrian, their ideas weak. Hail them.

3. (dance) Pertaining to ordinary, everyday movements incorporated in postmodern dance.

   The choreographer prefers pedestrian movements.

Translations

of or intended for pedestrians

• Armenian: հետիոտնային (hetiotnayin)
• Basque: oinezkoentzako
• Belarusian: пешахо́дны (pješaxódny)
• Bengali: পথচারী (bn) (pothcari)
• Bulgarian: пешеходен (pešehoden)
• Catalan: de vianants
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行人的 (zh) (xíngrén de), 行者的 (zh) (xíngzhě de)

• Czech: pěší (cs) m
• Danish: fodgænger (da) c
• Dutch: voetgangers-
• Esperanto: piediranta
• Finnish: jalankulku, jalka (fi)
• French: piéton (fr), piétonnier (fr), pédestre (fr)
• Galician: peonil (gl) m or f
• Georgian: საფეხმავლო (sapexmavlo), საქვეითო (sakveito)
• German: Fußgänger-, fußgänger-, Fuß-, fuß-, Geh-, geh-
• Hungarian: gyalogos (hu), gyalog- (hu)
• Ido: pedirala (io)
• Indonesian: pejalan kaki (id)
• Italian: pedonale (it)
• Macedonian: пешачки m (pešački)
• Maori: waehīkoi
• Polish: pieszy (pl) m, dla pieszych
• Portuguese: pedestre (pt), pedonal m or f
• Romanian: pentru pietoni, pedestru (ro), pietonal (ro)
• Russian: пе́ший (ru) (péšij), пешехо́дный (ru) (pešexódnyj)
• Spanish: peatonal
• Swedish: fotgängare (sv)
• Turkish: yaya (tr)
• Ukrainian: пішохі́дний (pišoxídnyj)

ordinary

• Catalan: banal (ca), ordinari (ca), comú (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無趣的 / 无趣的 (zh) (wúqù de)

• Czech: přízemní (cs)
• Dutch: gewoon (nl), alledaags (nl), gewoontjes (nl) (only predicative or adverbial)
• Finnish: mitäänsanomaton (fi)
• French: banal (fr), ordinaire (fr), bateau (fr)
• German: umständlich (de), nüchtern (de), schwunglos, prosaisch (de), erdgebunden
• Hungarian: hétköznapi (hu), közhelyes (hu), lapos (hu), unalmas (hu), prózai (hu), szürke (hu), földhözragadt (hu)
• Indonesian: biasa (id), tidak wah
• Latin: cotidianus (la)
• Persian: معمولی (fa) (ma'muli)
• Polish: przyziemny (pl) m
• Portuguese: prosaico (pt), comum (pt)
• Romanian: prozaic (ro) m or n, comun (ro) m or n, neinspirat (ro) m or n
• Russian: обы́чный (ru) (obýčnyj), зауря́дный (ru) (zaurjádnyj)
• Spanish: común (es), prosaico (es), banal (es), pedestre (es), vulgar (es)

Noun

pedestrian (plural pedestrians)

1. A walker; one who walks or goes on foot, especially as opposed to one who uses a vehicle.

   Synonyms: footer, footgoer, footfarer

   Hyponym: (archaic) footman

   • 1912, Ralph Davol, Two Men of Taunton: In the Course of Human Events, 1731-1829, page 214:

     […] how the troops came marching out for evening exercise under Captain Preston; how pedestrians and street urchins taunted them, shouting "Lobsters," "Bloody-backs," and flinging snow-balls, turnips, […]

2. (dated) An expert or professional walker or runner; one who performs feats of walking or running.

   Synonym: walkist

Derived terms

• pedestrian crossing
• pedestrian hacker
• pedestrian island
• pedestrian precinct
• pedestrian recall
• pedestrian refuge
• pedestrian scramble
• pedestrian underpass

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ped- (0 c, 64 e)

Translations

somebody walking rather than using a vehicle

• Afrikaans: voetganger sg
• Albanian: këmbësor (sq) m
• Arabic: رَاجِل m (rājil), مَاشٍ m (māšin), مَارّ (ar) m (mārr)
• Armenian: հետիոտն (hy) (hetiotn)
• Asturian: peatón m
• Azerbaijani: piyada (az), yayaq
• Basque: oinezko sg
• Belarusian: пешахо́д m (pješaxód), хада́к m (xadák)
• Bulgarian: пешехо́дец (bg) m (pešehódec)
• Catalan: vianant (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行人 (zh) (xíngrén), (formal) 行者 (zh) (xíngzhě)

• Czech: chodec (cs) m
• Danish: fodgænger (da) c
• Dutch: voetganger (nl) m, voetgangster f
• Esperanto: (♂♀) piediranto, (explicitly ♂) virpiediranto, (neologism ♂) piedirantiĉo, (♀) piedirantino
• Estonian: jalakäija
• Farefare: gilgra
• Finnish: jalankulkija (fi)
• French: piéton (fr) m, piétonne (fr) f
• Galician: peón (gl) m, viandante m or f
• Georgian: ქვეითი (kveiti), ფეხით მოსიარულე (pexit mosiarule), ქვეითად მოსიარულე (kveitad mosiarule)
• German: Fußgänger (de) m, Fußgängerin (de) f, (Austrian) Fußgeher (de) m, (Austrian) Fußgeherin (de) f, Passant (de) m, Passantin (de) f
• Greek: πεζός (el) m (pezós)
• Hebrew: הוֹלֵךְ־רֶגֶל (he) m (holékh-régel), הוֹלֶכֶת־רֶגֶל m (holékhet-régel)
• Hindi: पैदल (hi) m (paidal)
• Hungarian: gyalogos (hu)
• Icelandic: fótgangandi (is) m
• Ido: (♂♀) pediranto (io), (♂) pedirantulo, (♀) pedirantino
• Indonesian: pejalan kaki (id)
• Irish: coisí m
• Italian: pedone (it) m
• Japanese: 歩行者 (ja) (ほこうしゃ, hokōsha)
• Kannada: ಕಾಲುದಾರಿ (kn) (kāludāri), ಕಾಲ್ನಡೆಗ (kn) (kālnaḍega), ಪಾದಚಾರಿ (kn) (pādacāri)
• Kazakh: жаяу адам (jaäu adam)
• Khmer: ចរក (km) (chârôk), ថ្មើរជើង (thmaə cəəng)
• Korean: 보행자(步行者) (ko) (bohaengja)
• Kyrgyz: жөө жүрүүчү (jöö jürüücü)
• Latin: pedō m
• Latvian: kājāmgājējs m, gājējs m
• Lithuanian: pėstysis m
• Luxembourgish: Foussgänger m
• Macedonian: пешак m (pešak)
• Malayalam: കാൽനടക്കാരൻ m (kālnaṭakkāraṉ)
• Maori: waehīkoi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fotgjenger (no) m

  Nynorsk: fotgjengar m

• Occitan: pedon (oc) m
• Persian: پیاده (fa) (piyâde), پیاده (fa) (piyâde)
• Polish: pieszy (pl) m
• Portuguese: peão (pt) m, pedestre (pt) m or f
• Romanian: pieton (ro) m, pedestru (ro) m
• Russian: пешехо́д (ru) m (pešexód), пешехо́дка (ru) f (pešexódka), пе́ший (ru) m (péšij), пе́шая f (péšaja), пешехо́дец (ru) m (pešexódec) (dated)
• Scottish Gaelic: coisiche m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пѐша̄к m, пјѐша̄к m

  Roman: pèšāk (sh) m, pjèšāk (sh) m

• Slovak: chodec (sk) m
• Slovene: pešec m, peška (sl) f
• Southern Altai: јойу (ǰoyu), јойу кижи (ǰoyu kiži), јайу (ǰayu)
• Spanish: peatón (es) m, viandante m or f
• Swedish: fotgängare (sv) c
• Tajik: пиёда (tg) (piyoda), пиёдагард (tg) (piyodagard)
• Thai: คนเดินเท้า, ผู้เดินเท้า
• Turkish: yaya (tr)
• Turkmen: pyýada
• Ukrainian: пішохі́д m (pišoxíd), пі́ший m (píšyj)
• Uzbek: piyoda (uz)
• Vietnamese: bằng chân
• Volapük: (♂♀) futogolan (vo), (♂) futohigolan, (♀) futojigolan

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pedestrian”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• depainters, pedantries, prestained, præsident