vulgar

Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Latin vulgāris, from volgus, vulgus (“mob; common folk”), from Proto-Indo-European *wl̥k-. Compare Welsh gwala (“plenty, sufficiency”), Ancient Greek ἁλία (halía, “assembly”), εἰλέω (eiléō, “to compress”), Old Church Slavonic великъ (velikŭ, “great”).

adj

1. Debased, uncouth, distasteful, obscene.
   vulgar language
   vulgar words
   a truly vulgar showing of affection
   vulgar and highly distressing scenes
   Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples not onely vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber. 1551, James A.H. Murray, editor, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society., volume 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1888, Part 1, page 217
   Several years ago I interviewed the CEO of a car manufacturer whose products start in the six figures. He told me his customers could always afford to buy his cars, but in recessions they found it vulgar to do so. 2023-05-28, Robert Armstrong, “The world wobbles; the luxury industry strides on”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 21
2. (classical sense) Having to do with ordinary, common people.
   It might be more useful to the English reader […] to write in our vulgar language. 1661, John Fell, The Life of Dr. Hammond
   Further, the same sacred name in other monuments precedes the vulgar name of King Takellothis, the sixth of the XXII. Dyn., as we have seen. 1860, G. Syffarth, "A Remarkable Seal in Dr. Abbott's Museum at New York", Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, age 265
3. (especially taxonomy) Common, usual; of the typical kind.
   vulgar bush brown (Bicyclus vulgaris)
   A vulture (V. aura), probably the Acabiry first described by Azara, is here called […] the hunter. It resembles in form the vulgar bird, but it flies high. The head is red, and the wings are black with silver lining, like the noble Bateleur of Africa. 1869, Richard Francis Burton, The Highlands of the Brazil, page 85
4. (mathematics) Being a vulgar fraction.
   A fraction is vulgar if it has one integer divided by another integer, as long as the integer that's doing the dividing isn't equal to zero. 2022, Mary Jane Sterling, Algebra II All-in-One For Dummies, page 282

noun

1. (classicism) A common, ordinary person.
   Popular antiquarian writings […] frequently focused on the regional vulgars' superstitious beliefs regarding the dead and their ongoing presence—such as popular funeral rites or the vulgars' fear of church yards. 2016, Evan Gottlieb, Juliet Shields, Representing Place in British Literature and Culture, 1660-1830
2. (collective) The common people.
3. The vernacular tongue or common language of a country.
   Therefore you Clowne, abandon: which is in the vulgar, leaue the societie: which in the boorish, is companie, of this female: which in the common, is woman: which together, is, abandon the society of this Female, […] (Or in a modern form: Therefore, you clown, abandon—which is in the vulgar, “leave”—the society—which in the boorish is “company”—of this female—which in the common is “woman”—which together is: abandon the society of this female,[…]) 1623, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies; Published according to the True Originall Copies, London, act 5, scene 1, page 204, Internet Shakespeare Editions