Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

prōlētārĭus, ĭi, m. [proles].

  1. I. According to a division of the people by Servius Tullius, a citizen of the lowest class, who served the State not with his property, but only with his children (proles), a proletary: qui aut non plus mille quingentum aeris aut omnino nihil in suum censum praeter caput attulissent, proletarios nominavit, ut ex iis quasi proles [id est quasi progenies] civitatis exspectari videretur, Cic. Rep. 2, 22, 40; cf Liv. 1, 43; Fragm. XII. Tab. ap. Gell. 16, 10, 1; Enn. ib. (Ann. v. 189 Vahl.): proletarios lucrari plures, Amm. 19, 11, 7: proletarium capite censum, dictum quod ex his civitas constet, quasi proles progenie: iidem et proletanei, Fest. p. 228 Müll.
  2. * II. Transf., adj., low, common: sermo, Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 157.