bogan
/ˈboʊɡən/
bogan noun: an unsophisticated person from a working class background.
Noun (1)
bogan (plural bogans)
- An unsophisticated person from a working class background.
- Bogans were Lockie's least favorite kind of people.1999, Tim Winton, Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster, page 6
- The Reservoir I grew up in was populated by menacing, toothless Torana-driving bogans, crushed menthol-smoking pensioners and toddlers who swore.2009, Catherine Deveny, Free to a Good Home, page 47
- An Anglo-Celtic member of a lower socioeconomic group, stereotypically classified as wearing black jumpers or black concert T-shirts.
- Synonyms:
- bevan, westy, westie, booner, white trash
- A petrolhead.
Verb
bogan (third-person singular simple present bogans, present participle boganning, simple past and past participle boganned)
- To act like a bogan.
- If you're coming in to cause trouble, don't bother […] bogan it up at home.2008, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
Noun (2)
bogan (plural bogans)
- Any narrow water or creek, particularly a tranquil backwater.
- All around the shores of the narrow bogan crowded the beasts, watching with wide, fascinated eyes the flight and fall of these disastrous missiles.2001, Charles G. D. Roberts, Seán Virgo, Kindred of the Wild, page 130
- An indigenous person.
- Negative Stereotypes: Indians, natives, bogans, nates, […]2013, Feathers of Hope: A First Nations Youth Action Plan, archived from the original on 24 Apr 2016, page 68
- Greg Quachegan, a teacher at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, was walking with his young daughters when someone yelled, “Bogans,” at them. He has no idea what it means, but it’s a slur aboriginal people hear often.2015 December 8, Tanya Talaga, “One rape. A hate crime. Thunder Bay's simmering divides come to light”, in Toronto Star
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Bogan
Bogan
- A river of central to northern New South Wales, Australia, a tributary to the Darling.
- A local government area in New South Wales, Australia; in full, Bogan Shire.
- A locality in the Warren council area, northern New South Wales, Australia.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Bogan
Bogan (plural Bogans)
- A surname from Irish.
bogan meaning in Thai
bogan in Thai
- unsophisticated or lower class person
- คนบ้านนอก, ชาวบ้าน chaao-bâan, ตาสีตาสา dtaa-sǐi-dtaa-sǎa, ลูกทุ่ง lûuk-tûng
Examples of bogan in a sentence
- "There's young men, on the weekends, they will throw beer bottles at you and yell out 'bogan' or 'squaw' or 'whore,'" said Deanne Hupfield, who grew up in Thunder Bay.2017 February 7, Lenard Monkman, “Indigenous people say racism-tainted drive-by violence all too common”, in CBC News:
- Is that the same blue truck that is throwing rocks out the passenger window and screaming at natives calling them bogans walking on the street?2017 June 1, “Evidence from First Nation student who survived Thunder Bay river attack resurfaces following eye-witness claim”, in National...
Synonyms of bogan
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of bogan
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bogans |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bogans |
| present participle | boganning |
| past participle | boganned |
| past | boganned |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Bogans |
Origin of bogan
Unknown. First appeared in Australia in the 1980s. Possibly in reference to supposedly unsophisticated people from remote outback places such as the Bogan River or Bogan Gate (cf. dubbo from Dubbo).
Uncertain. Perhaps a contraction of pokelogan influenced by bog (or bogue), or a blend of logan (from pokelogan) + bog.
Uncertain. Possibly from an Australian Aboriginal language.
Words formed from bogan
Phrases with bogan
Words that rhyme with bogan
Questions about bogan
- What does bogan mean?
- Bogan means an unsophisticated person from a working class background.
- What is bogan in Thai?
- Bogan in Thai is คนบ้านนอก, ชาวบ้าน (chaao-bâan), ตาสีตาสา (dtaa-sǐi-dtaa-sǎa). See Bogan meaning in Thai.
- How do you use bogan in a sentence?
- "There's young men, on the weekends, they will throw beer bottles at you and yell out 'bogan' or 'squaw' or 'whore,'" said Deanne Hupfield, who grew up in Thunder Bay.
- What part of speech is bogan?
- Bogan can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce bogan?
- Bogan is pronounced /ˈboʊɡən/.
- What is the plural of bogan?
- The plural of bogan is bogans.
Words near bogan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bogan (page history and authors); Bogan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-AU ck1 bogan.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bogan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bogan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.