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up vote 17 down vote favorite

I can't think of the word to describe it. Something similar to "wanderer" or "roamer".

It's often used to describe people that don't stay in one place... not "migratory"...

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I removed "indigenous" because it's simply wrong used in this question. "Indigenous" means "native of a certain place". I'm an indigenous too, and you're one as well. See this example: The indigenous peoples of Siberia (people that come from there vs. foreigners, who are not indigenous of Siberia). – Alenanno Jun 8 '11 at 17:29
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I would call 'a group of people who move a lot' excavators. – user9710 Jun 8 '11 at 18:22
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Ravers? – Callithumpian Jun 8 '11 at 18:28
@Calli +1 for awesome show reference. – KitFox♦ Jun 8 '11 at 18:56
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@Kit - He didn't say "Reavers". I might have bumped him for that one too... – T.E.D. Jun 8 '11 at 21:47
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9 Answers

up vote 45 down vote accepted

I think you're looking for nomadic, which describes a group (or person) that has no permanent home. Nomadic tribes often follow herds of game animals, for instance, so they would have seasonal camps.

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that will work, but it's not the word i was thinking of...it might have been "pastoral". thanks. – Marty Jun 8 '11 at 17:25
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@marty - "pastoral" implies a pasture. When applied to a people, it generally means they are primarily livestock herders. Such a people generally need a very large range, and will need to move with their flocks to take care of (keep possession of) them. So you could say one implies the other. However, these days a "pastoral" lifestyle also often just refers to someone who spends a lot of time sitting around watching grass grow. – T.E.D. Jun 8 '11 at 17:47
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@marty: I think the upvotes tell their own story. By any normal standards @Kit's answer is unambiguously the 'correct' one for your question. As @T.E.D. says, 'pastoral' might imply some degree of movement, but it's hard to see how that word (or indeed any other) could be a better answer to the question as posed. You can't really expect us to guess what particular word you're thinking of, whilst bearing in mind that it's not going to be the most exact match to the defintion you supplied! – FumbleFingers Jun 8 '11 at 22:12
up vote 0 down vote

Nobody has mentioned "Bohemian", but that implies a lifestyle and spirituality in addition to wanderlust.

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I've heard that word used to describe people who have never left the confines of New York City in their lives. – T.E.D. Aug 2 '11 at 14:07
up vote 1 down vote

I'm surprised nobody had listed commuters.

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up vote 2 down vote

Nomadic should work. But I would not go with words like pastoral. It seems to convey a more idyllic and peaceful stance. Also, pastoral might refer to continuous movement in search of rural grasslands to base your livelihood upon.

Also, gypsies, fugitives and migrants or bedouins would be discriminatory to use in a extended sense as they are particular to certain segments of people. The same is the case with a vagabond or a tramp.

The word which I would prefer over Nomadic is the word 'drifting'. It seems to convey more of the aimless movement that the question seemed to have in mind.

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up vote 16 down vote

Are you thinking of vagabond, perhaps?

  1. wandering from place to place without any settled home; nomadic: a vagabond tribe.
  2. leading an unsettled or carefree life.
  3. disreputable; worthless; shiftless.
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Nice one. I was also thinking "itinerant" which is along the same lines. – KitFox♦ Jun 8 '11 at 17:34
up vote 2 down vote

peripatetic
but that could also be a single person instead of a group.

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up vote 7 down vote

Some more possibilities:

transients
vagrants
drifters
fugitives
migrants
errants
floaters
wanderers
Bedouins
itinerants (from @Kit)

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I've never heard (here in the central USA) "Bedouins" used to refer to people who aren't actually cultural Bedouins. The rest I agree with. – T.E.D. Jun 8 '11 at 18:50
@T.E.D. Maybe got a little carried away with that one, but there is this from Wiktionary. – Callithumpian Jun 8 '11 at 20:21
up vote 11 down vote

I voted up "nomadic" because it is probably the best word to use. However, if we are asking about English as it is commonly used, I have most often heard the word "gypsy" used for that type of person.

The problem is that this is the name of an actual group of people in Europe, and thus the term is somewhat racist. Oddly, it mostly lost its negative connotations here in the USA, but I suspect that isn't the case the closer you get to their homeland in Eastern Europe.

Anyway, if you are talking about an actual culture of people (as it looks like you are), calling them "gypsies" when they aren't actually ethnic gypsies would be very confusing.

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+1 I was just about to add that, among others. – Callithumpian Jun 8 '11 at 17:57
Tzigane may be also be a variant (possibly with a lesser racist connotation?) – nico Jun 9 '11 at 13:56
@nico, Tzigane is just an odd spelling of cigány, the Hungarian word for "gypsy" (and nowadays considered about as offensive as you can get). – Marthaª Jun 9 '11 at 14:31
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@Martha: really? I think it may be a regional issue then. Here in France for instance, you can use gitane (which I think is also derived from cigány) without any problem. There are many groups of musique gitane that play musique around here. Recently I saw a festival gitane, so definitely I wouldn't say it's rude or offensive. I have also heard gipsy (as in the band Gipsy Kings) and nobody seemed to be shocked by that. To me vagabond has a much stronger negative connotation. – nico Jun 10 '11 at 6:54
@nico: all the various words for "gypsy" ultimately derive from "Egypt"; the French word looks vaguely Italian to me. Anyway, the Hungarian term "cigány" is not offensive if it's clearly applied to music, but using it in any sort of "vagabond"-type sense is likely to offend. Gypsies are a sensitive subject in Hungary. – JPmiaou Jun 14 '11 at 21:38
up vote 8 down vote

I think "nomadic" people is the correct word here.

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