Gypsy vs. Hippie — What's the Difference?

A member of the Romani people, known for their nomadic lifestyle.

Someone who rejects mainstream societal values.

Someone skilled in fortune-telling, often associated with Romani traditions.

A proponent of communal living and harmony with nature.

A lifestyle or trait emphasizing freedom and wandering.

Related to the countercultural movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

A person with a wandering lifestyle and no fixed home.

A person associated with a subculture advocating for peace, love, and alternative lifestyles.

Related to the culture, language, or traditions of the Romani people.

Someone known for embracing psychedelic music and drugs.

See Romani.

A hippie, also spelled as hippy, is a member of the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The word hippie came from hipster and was used to describe beatniks who moved into New York City's Greenwich Village, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, and Chicago's Old Town community.

The Romani language.

A member of a counterculture originating in the United States in the 1960s, typically characterized by unconventional dress and behavior, communal or transient lifestyles, opposition to war, and liberal attitudes toward sexuality and the use of marijuana and psychedelic drugs.

A member of any of various traditionally itinerant groups unrelated to the Romani.

(1950s slang) A teenager who imitated the beatniks.

A part-time or temporary member of a college faculty.

(1960s slang; still widely used in reference to that era) One who chooses not to conform to prevailing social norms: especially one who subscribes to values or actions such as acceptance or self-practice of recreational drug use, liberal or radical sexual mores, advocacy of communal living, strong pacifism or anti-war sentiment, etc.

A member of the chorus line in a theater production.

(modern slang) A person who keeps an unkempt or sloppy appearance and has unusually long hair (for males), and is thus often stereotyped as a deadbeat.

Alternative form of Gypsy: a member of the Romani people.

Someone who dresses in a hippie style.

(colloquial) An itinerant person or any person, not necessarily Romani; a tinker, a traveller or a carny.

One who is hip.

A move in contra dancing in which two dancers walk in a circle around each other while maintaining eye contact (but not touching as in a swing). whole gyp, half gyp, and gypsy meltdown, in which this step precedes a swing.}}

Of or pertaining to hippies.

(theater) A member of a Broadway musical chorus line.

Not conforming to generally accepted standards.

(dated) A person with a dark complexion.

Someone who rejects the established culture, dresses casually, and advocates extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle. Used especially of those in the late 1960's, mostly in their late teens and early twenties, who conspicuously rejected traditional culture by dressing casually, if male wore their hair long, and wore folksy or used clothing adorned with beads, headbands, and often flowers; they emphasized the importance of love and direct personal relations rather than success-oriented businesslike behavior, strove for spontaneity, sometimes lived communally, and in some cases tried to expand their consciousness by various psychological techniques such as meditation, or through the use of consciousness-altering drugs such as marijuana or LSD. By the end of the Vietnam war in the 1970's, the numbers of people living a visibly hippie lifestyle had dramatically decreased, though some people continue to develop similar views and live with the same outlook.

(dated) A sly, roguish woman.

Someone who rejects the established culture; advocates extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle

Alternative form of Gypsy: of or belonging to the Romani people.

(offensive) Of or having the qualities of an itinerant person or group with qualities traditionally ascribed to Romani people; making a living from dishonest practices or theft etc.

(intransitive) To roam around the country like a gypsy.

To perform the gypsy step in contra dancing.

One of a vagabond race, whose tribes, coming originally from India, entered Europe in the 14th or 15th century, and are now scattered over Turkey, Russia, Hungary, Spain, England, etc., living by theft, fortune telling, horsejockeying, tinkering, etc. Cf. Bohemian, Romany.

The language used by the gypsies.

A dark-complexioned person.

A cunning or crafty person.

Pertaining to, or suitable for, gypsies.

To play the gypsy; to picnic in the woods.

A member of a nomadic people originating in northern India and now living on all continents

The Indic language of the Gypsies

A Gypsy is a member of the Romani people, an ethnic group known for its nomadic traditions.

A Hippie is someone from the 1960s countercultural movement emphasizing peace, love, and alternative lifestyles.

No, while many Gypsies were historically nomadic, many now live in permanent homes.

It can be considered derogatory. The term "Romani" is preferred.

Psychedelic rock, folk, and other genres promoting peace and love.

While not all, many Hippies opposed the Vietnam War and participated in anti-war protests.

Yes, the Hippie movement began in the U.S. in the 1960s but spread globally.

Yes, it's called Romani, with various dialects spoken by Romani communities.

Gypsies have diverse religious practices, often influenced by their host countries.

Tie-dye, beads, bell-bottoms, and bohemian styles.

Yes, some communes or communities influenced by Hippie ideals still exist.

No, while some Romani individuals might practice fortune-telling, it's a stereotype to associate all Gypsies with this profession.

No, one is an ethnic group, and the other is a subculture.

Hippies generally advocated for peace, environmentalism, and social justice.

Gypsies, or the Romani people, can be found worldwide, especially in Europe.