Vulgo

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Widely referred to or known by a name among the general public
2. Generally called or recognized by a specific name within popular usage
3. Commonly named or identified by people outside formal or official contexts

Etymology: "Vulgo" is a Latin adverb meaning "commonly" or "by the common people," built from "vulgus," the common crowd. English borrowed it directly from Latin, and in English it works as an adjective meaning named or identified in everyday, unofficial use rather than in formal records. The Latin adverb itself shows up in phrases such as "vulgo dictus," "commonly called," which is the pattern that gives the English sense its flavour: a name that circulates among ordinary people, not one fixed by authorities. The word is a plain Latin borrowing rather than a coinage, so its interest lies in how the Latin phrasing carried a specific social idea, that a name belongs to whoever uses it, into English legal and scholarly writing.

Synonyms: common, ordinary

Antonyms: elite