English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology
FreeDict.com

publican

The origin and history of publican.

Etymology

Probably from public house (“(Britain) bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging, pub”) or public (“open to all members of a community”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns), apparently originally used humorously.

← Back to the full definition of publican
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.