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proletariat

/ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/ noun

Latin root: proletārius Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about proletariat at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages.
    there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field

Origin

Borrowed from French prolétariat, from prolétaire + -at, from Latin proletārius, from prōlēt- (“offspring”) + -ārius, from stem of prōlēs, from pro- + *olēs (“growth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”). By surface analysis, Latin prōlēt- + -ary + -at.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)