herbert

Syllables: her·bert/ˈhɜːbət/US/ˈhɝbɚt/

herbert noun: a working-class youth, especially male.

Noun

herbert (plural herberts)

(slang, punk subculture) A working-class youth, especially male.
- It was the Ulster Annual Jamboree. For weeks past, hundreds of spotty-faced herberts, with yodelling voices and chin fuzz, had tied three million knots, started ten thousand twig fires, and completed six hundred leaf fires; perfect training for round about 3000BC but bloody useless in the twentieth...1963, Spike Milligan, Puckoon
- […] everything was busy now with the usual mix of herberts, and because this was Brunel University there was a lot of students, the sort who wouldn't normally go see a punk band […]2000, John King, Human punk
(slang) A foolish or contemptible person, especially male.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:herbert.

Herbert

A male given name from the Germanic languages, in modern use partly transferred back from the surname.
- Herbert, Sydney, Milton, Seymour. You know, all the time I was growing up I thought those were the most ordinary Jewish first names, until someone pointed out that they were British last names. I guess to my great-grandparents those names must have sounded so modern, so sophisticated, so -...1989, David Leavitt, Equal Affections, →ISBN, page 215
- To be clear what we're talking about, read Cronon's piece. He offers a great introduction to the concept, and its originator, Herbert Butterfield.2012 October 3, Rebekah Higgitt, “Why whiggish won't do”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
A surname originating as a patronymic.
- And you, Sir Walter Herbert, stay with me.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
A small town in North Otago, New Zealand.
A rural locality in Litchfield Municipality, Northern Territory, Australia.
A former government town in South Australia.
A town in the Rural Municipality of Morse No. 165, Saskatchewan, Canada.
An unincorporated community in Boone County, Illinois, United States.

हर्बर्ट, हरबर्ट

ஹெர்பர்ட், ஹெர்பெர்ட்

हर्बर्ट, हर्बेर्ट

ہربرٹ, ہاربرٹ, ہیربرٹ

More languagesFewer languages

Because of my appearance, I was accosted by a couple of spotty herberts on the way […]2007, Bobby Smith, Margaret Oshindele-Smith, One Love Two Colours:
I was a proto-hippy in '66 - '67 and by about August '67 the bandwagon jumpers, the media and all manner of assorted herberts had turned up to spoil everything.2007, Paul Marko, The Roxy London WC2: A Punk History:
Into this haunted house stumble a couple of modern-day herberts, Alison and Mike (Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe).2019 April 15, Stuart Jeffries, “Ghosts review - a silly sitcom that will make you die laughing”, in Guardian Online, archived from the...

* (working-class youth): From the name Herbert. The term was popularised by the punk movement but predates it.

From Old French Herbert, from Frankish *Hariberht.

What does herbert mean?: Herbert means a working-class youth, especially male.
What is herbert in Hindi?: Herbert in Hindi is हर्बर्ट, हरबर्ट. See Herbert meaning in Hindi.
How do you use herbert in a sentence?: Because of my appearance, I was accosted by a couple of spotty herberts on the way […]
What part of speech is herbert?: Herbert can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce herbert?: Herbert is pronounced /ˈhɝbɚt/ (US).
What is the plural of herbert?: The plural of herbert is herberts.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-herbert.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Herbert.wav.

Cite this entry: “herbert.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/herbert. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.