soixante-huitard

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French soixante-huitard (literally “sixty-eighter”).

Noun

soixante-huitard (plural soixante-huitards)

1. (historical) Someone who took part in, or otherwise supported, the civil unrest in France in May 1968, characterised by student protests and widespread strikes.
   • 2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 92:

     ‘Those clochards in Cannes, mostly old soixante-huitards. They see a tribute to modern industrial genius and can't resist giving it a swift kick.’

2. (by extension, loosely) A fierce social activist or protester.
   • 2012 October 26, Jonathan Rée, “The War We Never Fought by Peter Hitchens – review”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     As far as he is concerned, the institutions that once made Britain great – from parliament to the ancient seats of learning, from monarchy and the common law to the Church of England – have all been hollowed out and subverted by cynical soixante-huitards.

French

Etymology

From soixante-huit +‎ -ard, after quarante-huitard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swa.sɑ̃.tɥi.taʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

soixante-huitard m (plural soixante-huitards)

1. (colloquial) soixante-huitard
   • 2000, Frédéric Beigbeder, 99 francs‎^[2], Gallimard, →ISBN, page 35:

     Après tout, les soixante-huitards ont commencé par faire la révolution, puis ils sont entrés dans la pub — moi, je voulais faire l’inverse.

     After all, the soixante-huitards started out as revolutionaries, then they went into advertising – I wanted to do the opposite.

Further reading

• “soixante-huitard”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.