Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Pedestrian |
PedestrianAdjective1. Lacking wit or imagination; "a pedestrian movie plot". Noun1. A person who travels by foot. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "pedestrian" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | PEDESTRIAN, n. The variable (an audible) part of the roadway for an automobile. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Multilingual Slang | French (viande a pneus). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A pedestrian is a person travelling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road but this was not the case historically. Nowadays, roads often have a designated footpath attached especially for this traffic, called the sidewalk in US English and the pavement in UK English. There are also footpaths not associated with a road which are used purely by pedestrians, particularly ramblers, hikers or hill-walkers and there are roads not associated with a footpath. On some of the latter, pedestrians share the road with horses and vehicles whilst on others they are forbidden from using the road altogether. Also some shopping streets are for pedestrians only. Some roads have special pedestrian crossings.
Efforts are underway by pedestrian advocacy groups to restore pedestrian access to new developments, especially to counteract newer developments where 20 to 30 percent do not include sidewalks.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pedestrianism was a popular spectator sport just as equestrianism still is. One of the most famous pedestrians of the day was Captain Robert Barclay Allardice, known as "The Celebrated Pedestrian", of Stonehaven. His most impressive feat was to walk 1 mile every hour for 1000 hours, which he achieved between the 1st of June and the 12th of July, 1809. This feat captured the imagination of the public, and around 10,000 people came to watch over the course of the event. During the rest of the nineteenth century attempts to repeat this particular athletic challenge were made by many pedestrians including the renowned Ada Anderson who developed it further and walked a quarter-mile in each quarter-hour over the 1,000 hours.
Since the nineteenth century, interest in pedestrianism has dropped. Although it is still an Olympic sport, it fails to catch public attention in the way that it used to. However, pedestrians are still carrying out major walking feats such as the popular Land's End to John o' Groats walk or traversal of North America from coast to coast. These feats are often tied to charitable fundraising and have been achieved by celebrities such as Sir Jimmy Savile or Ian Botham as well as by people not otherwise in the public eye.
External Links
- Ultramarathons
- Early Pedestrians in North America
- Pedestrian Advocacy Groups
- Transportation Alternatives: Pedestrian Advocacy
- America Walks
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Pedestrian."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| pelican | English | Pedestrian light controlled crossing | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: PedestrianSynonyms: earthbound (adj), prosaic (adj), prosy (adj), footer (n), walker (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Dullness | Adjective: dull, dull as ditch water; unentertaining, uninteresting, flat, dry as dust; unfunny, unlively, logy; unimaginative; insulse; dry as dust; prosy, prosing, prosaic; matter of fact, commonplace, pedestrian, pointless; "weary stale flat and unprofitable". |
Mart | Mall, suburban mall, commons, pedestrian mall; shopping street. |
Traveler | Pedestrian, walker, foot passenger; cyclist; wheelman. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Pedestrian |
| English words defined with "pedestrian": earthbound ♦ jaywalker ♦ mall ♦ Pedaneous, Pedestrianism, promenade, prosaic, prosy. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "pedestrian": Collision/Crash, conflict of flows ♦ ferry-terminal agent ♦ pedestrian friendly design, pedestrian oriented development, pedestrian-oriented environment, physically separated facilities ♦ SUPERVISOR, FERRY TERMINAL ♦ TRANSPORTATION ENGINEER. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Mind the pedestrian. (Keeping Up Appearances; writing credit: Roy Clarke) | |
Movie/TV Titles | I'm No Fool as a Pedestrian (1956) Pedestrian Safety (1952) The Pedestrian (2003) Pedestrian (2000) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | I wish folks would keep their pets on leashes! A very large alligator causes the average pedestrian to consider a detour. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | The Raw Meat System, or Gentlemen in training for Pedestrian Exercises. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | The pedestrian has the right of way / C.K. Berryman. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The Great walk--scenes and incidents on and off the track, during the memorable six days international pedestrian quest for the Astley Belt at Madison Square Garden, New York City, September 22-27. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Nation's Business. Police warning pedestrian I. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Flood of August 23, 1933. Fallen tree over one of pedestrian bridges. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Pedestrian bridge over railroad track beside pond. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Bangkok - birds-eye view of river; pedestrian bridge in foreground. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Pedestrian Perspective v.01" by Timothy Johnson Commentary: "This is a series of shots in D.C. of non-descipt buildings highlighting perspective." | "Pedestrian Bridge" by T. Al Nakib Commentary: "At the bottom of the bridge." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Along the stretch of the main shopping area of Orchard Road, at high-traffic pedestrian crossings, outdoor digital screens that flash advertisements are strategically placed. (references) | |
Many British cities are considering pedestrian precincts and restricted access for motor vehicles where public sector transport alternatives and out of town parking is available. (references) | ||
Urban road traffic schemes are designed to make towns and cities less welcoming to private car users, with pedestrian zones, additional speed restrictions and fewer available parking facilities. (references) | ||
Children | Germany | The Government has set guidelines for the attainment of "barrier-free" public buildings and for modifications of streets and pedestrian traffic walks to accommodate persons with disabilities. (references) |
Argentina | A 1994 law intended to eliminate barriers for persons with disabilities mandates standards regarding access to public buildings, parks, plazas, stairs, and pedestrian areas. (references) | |
Economic History | Morocco | Traffic in Casablanca continues to be clogged due to insufficient signaling, absence of pedestrian overpasses and lack of parking and traffic enforcement. (references) |
Human Rights | Israel and the occupied territories | The next day, a bus bomb in Haifa killed 15 and injured 40. Hamas took responsibility for the Haifa and the December Jerusalem pedestrian mall bombings. (references) |
Israel and the occupied territories | In early December, two suicide bomber killed 11 persons and injured 188 in a pedestrian mall in West Jerusalem. (references) | |
Travel | Uk | Many U.S. citizens are injured every year in pedestrian accidents in the United Kingdom, forgetting that traffic moves in the opposite direction than in the United States. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Julianne Moore | I do lead a very pedestrian life, I have to tell you. It's pretty regular, you know, and mostly my children are very little so that means I'm rarely out of the house. It's true. It's true. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Pedestrian" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.39% of the time. "Pedestrian" is used about 487 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.39% | 484 | 12,322 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.41% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 0.2% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 487 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "pedestrian": active pedestrian protection system ♦ lined pedestrian crossing ♦ pedestrian area ♦ pedestrian bridge ♦ pedestrian conveyor ♦ pedestrian crossing ♦ pedestrian crosswalk ♦ pedestrian friendly design ♦ pedestrian light controlled crossing ♦ pedestrian mall ♦ pedestrian oriented development ♦ pedestrian precinct ♦ pedestrian street ♦ pedestrian traffic ♦ pedestrian traffic only ♦ pedestrian trafic only ♦ pedestrian underpass ♦ pedestrian zone ♦ volume sensitive pedestrian detection. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "pedestrian": pedestrian-barrier, pedestrian-controlled, pedestrian-cycle, pedestrian-friendly, pedestrian-looking, pedestrian-only, pedestrian-only street, pedestrian-oriented, pedestrian-scale, pedestrian-vehicle. | |
Ending with "pedestrian": child-pedestrian, mo-pedestrian. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "pedestrian"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | pa fantazi (matter of fact, unimaginative), kalimtar (ephemeral, evanescent, goer, momentary, passerby, passing, temporal, temporary, transitional, transitive, transitory, unabiding), këmbësor (foot passenger, foot slogger, footer, footman, ganger, infantryman, unmounted, Walker), i ngathët (angular, atonic, awkward, clumsy, cubbish, dawdler, dead, dead alive, dull, dullish, footless, gauche, gawky, ham-fisted, heavy, heavy-handed, hulking, inept, laggard, languid, left handed, lubberly, lumbering, lymphatic, maladroit, oafish, poky, quick, shiftless, slack, torpid, ungainly, unhandy, unmoved, unready, unwieldy, wooden). (various references) | |
Arabic | منجز سيرا على الأقدام, مترجل (floating), مبتذل (banal, common, commonplace, conventional, corny, everyday, fade, fading, hack, hackneyed, outworn, overused, platitudinous, plebeian, prosaic, prose, routine, slipshod, stale, stereotyped, tacky, threadbare, tired, trite, trivial, vapid, vulgar, well worn, workaday, worn out), تافه (banal, commonplace, contemptible, crummy, fade, fiddling, flat, foolish, footling, fractional, frivolous, frothy, good for nothing, inane, inconsiderable, insignificant, junk, light, lilliputian, little, lowbrow, measly, minute, naught, negligible, niggling, nonsensical, nugatory, null, paltry, petty, piddling, pimping, piteous, pitiable, platitudinous, pointless, puny, ridiculous, run of the mill, silly, slight, slim, small time, smelly, stupid, trifle, trifling, trite, trivial, trumpery, two a penny, two bit, twopenny-halfpenny, unimportant, unsavory, unsavoury, unworthy, vain, valueless, vapid, vile, worthless), سافل (black sheep, dirty, immoral, low, mean, raffish, varmint), على الأقدام, ذو علاقة بالمشي, ركيك (prosaic, weak). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сух (academic, academical, anhydrous, arid, aseptic, bald, brut, chaffy, chippy, dried, droughty, dry, fleshless, gaunt, hacking, lean, liny, matter of fact, prosy, rainless, sapless, sec, spare, tearless, undamped, uninspired), за пешеходци, банален (banal, commonplace, everyday, flatulent, hack, hackneyed, namby-pamby, platitudinous, quotidian, tired, trite, trivial, twice-told, vapid, well worn, worn out), прозаичен (literal, matter of fact, prosaic, prose, prosy, unimaginative, unromantic, workaday), пешеходец (foot passenger, footslogger, goer, peripatetic, wayfarer), пешеходен, делничен (everyday, ferial, unromantic, weekday, workaday). (various references) | |
Catalan | vianant. (various references) | |
Chinese | 行人 , 步行者 (footer, Walker). (various references) | |
Czech | pìšák (infantryman, pawn), pìší, suchý (arid, bald, bare, dead, desiccated, droughty, dry, hacking, matter of fact, sear, sere, torrid, wry), obyèejný (average, coarse, common, common or garden, ordinary, unexceptional, usual), chodec (foot passenger, goer, Walker). (various references) | |
Danish | fodgænger. (various references) | |
Dutch | voetganger. (various references) | |
Esperanto | piediranto. (various references) | |
Farsi | پیاده (Afoot), مبتذل (Banal, Commonplace, Humdrum, Stale, Trivial, Vulgar), وابسته به پیاده روی , بیروح (Arid, Exanimate, Inert, Meek, Tame, Vapid). (various references) | |
Finnish | jalankulkija (walker). (various references) | |
French | piéton. (various references) | |
Frisian | fuotgonger. (various references) | |
German | Fußgänger (pedestrians, walker, walkers). (various references) | |
Greek | πεζόσ (afloot, infantryman, prosaic, prosaical, prosy, unimaginative), πεζός (prosaic, run of the mill). (various references) | |
Hebrew | של הליכה ברגל, הולך רגל, רגלי (footsoldier, infantryman). (various references) | |
Hungarian | gyalogos (afoot, fantassin, foot passenger, foot soldier, footsoldier, ground trooper, infantry, infantryman, wayfaring, wobbler). (various references) | |
Indonesian | pejalan kaki (hiker). (various references) | |
Italian | pedone (pawn, Walker). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ペット病 (pedestal, pedicure, pepper, pet-communicated infection, Petri, Petri-net), 歩行者 (walker), 歩行者 (walker). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ペデストリアン , ほこうしゃ (walker). (various references) | |
Korean | 보행자 (footer, Walker). (various references) | |
Manx | coshee (foot passenger, walker). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | edestrianpay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | pedestre (br.) (footpassenger, walker). (various references) | |
Romanian | prozaic (bread and butter, commonplace, matter of fact, prosaic, prosaically, prosily, prosy, unimaginative, unpoetical, workaday), plictisitor (boring, boringly, dead, dreadful, dry, dull, dully, flat, heavy, irksome, jejune, languorous, long winded, long-spun, monotonous, monotonously, pesky, pestersome, pestiferous, repetitious, repetitive, sententious, slow, tedious, tediously, tiresome, trying, weary), pieton (foot passenger, passer), pedestru (foot, hidebound, walking), trecãtor (bystander, evanescent, foot passenger, fugacious, fungous, goer, momentary, passer, passer by, passing, temporary, transient, transitory), neinspirat. (various references) | |
Russian | пешеход (foot passenger, footer, foot-passenger). (various references) | |
Scottish | coisiche (walker). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | pešak (foot passenger, goer, pawn, walker), pešački (goer). (various references) | |
Spanish | peatón (Walker). (various references) | |
Swedish | fotgängare (foot passenger, foot slogger, pedestrians, peripatetic), gångtrafikant. (various references) | |
Turkish | yaya (afoot, on foot, Walker, walker on, walkeron). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | пішохідний, пішохід (footer, footpassenger, footslogger, ganger), піший (unmounted), прозаїчний (earthly, prosaic, prosy, unimaginative). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tẻ ngắt (dull, insipid), người đi bộ (foot-passenger), không lý thú gì, chán ngắt (dull, dullness, dully, dulness, long-winded, mouldy, prosaic, tedious, wearied, weary), bằng chân. (various references) | |
Welsh | peddestr. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | pedes, pedestres. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "pedestrian": pedestrianism, pedestrianisms, pedestrians. (additional references) | |
| |
"Pedestrian" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: nemestrina, padestrian, pedestr, pedestrianly, pedestriant, pedistrian. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "pedestrian" (pronounced pude"strēun) |
| 7 | -e" s t r ē u n | equestrian. |
| 4 | -r ē u n | agrarian, authoritarian, barbarian, carrion, centenarian, centurion, Clarion, contrarian, criterion, Cyprian, disciplinarian, egalitarian, historian, humanitarian, hyperborean, libertarian, librarian, majoritarian, nonsectarian, octogenarian, ovarian, pagurian, parliamentarian, planarian, praetorian, presbyterian, proletarian, salutatorian, sectarian, seminarian, septuagenarian, totalitarian, unitarian, utilitarian, valedictorian, valerian, vegetarian, veterinarian. |
| 3 | -ē u n | accordion, alien, amphibian, arcadian, bohemian, Campion, chameleon, champion, circadian, collodion, comedian, custodian, draconian, galleon, gorgonian, Guardian, halcyon, herculean, lesbian, mammalian, median, mediterranean, meridian, Napoleon, nickelodeon, oblivion, obsidian, Odeon, plutonian, scorpion, simian, subterranean, symbion, theologian, thespian, utopian. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: pedantries. | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-e-i-n-p-r-s-t" | |
-1 letter: aperients, detainers, dipterans, pertained, pistareen, president, repainted, resinated, sparteine. | |
-2 letters: airspeed, andesite, aperient, arenites, arsenide, arsenite, depaints, detainer, detrains, dipteran, inserted, naperies, nearside, nerdiest, painters, pantries, parented, parietes, pederast, pertains, pinaster, predates, preedits, pretends, priested, pristane, randiest, rapidest, readiest, repaints, repasted, resident, resinate, respited, retained, seriated, sintered, sprained, sprinted, steadier, stearine, strained. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-e-i-n-p-r-s-t" | |
+1 letter: desperation, interpleads, interspaced, pedestrians. | |
+2 letters: deprecations, depredations, desperations, endoparasite, impersonated, meanspirited, predesignate, predestinate, predicaments, predominates, presidential, transpierced. | |
+3 letters: depreciations, deuteranopias, disparagement, disparateness, endoparasites, interpleaders, lepidopterans, parenthesized, pedestrianism, predesignated, predesignates, predestinated, predestinates, predestinator, presanctified, repristinated, stipendiaries, superordinate, unpasteurized. | |
+4 letters: antidepressant, antidepression, decrepitations, disparagements, dispensatories, pancreatitides, pedestrianisms, predesignating, predestinarian, predestinating, predestination, predestinators, premeditations, preordainments, presidentially, superinsulated, unpredictables. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Spoken 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Abbreviations | 17. Acronyms 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
