third world



third world

Underdeveloped or developing countries, as in The conditions in our poorest rural areas resemble those in the third world. This expression originated in the mid-1900s, at first denoting those countries in Asia and Africa that were not aligned with either the Communist bloc nations or the non-Communist Western nations. Because they were for the most part poor and underdeveloped, the term was transferred to all countries with those characteristics, and later still to poorer groups within a larger prevailing culture.
See also: third, world

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
CorbinKAWR-binEnglish
Ayaah-yahJapanese
JupiterJOO-pi-tər (English)Roman Mythology (Anglicized)
Steffi-German
Antun-Croatian
Mildburg-Anglo-Saxon