John Q. Public

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

John Q. Public

Where it comes from

First use appears c. 1938. John Q. Public was the name of a character created by Vaughn Shoemaker, an editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Daily News from 1922 to 1952; Shoemaker introduced this character in 1922 but is believed to have added the "Q." sometime in the early 1930s.https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/22/obituaries/vaughn-shoemaker-created-john-q-public.html

Compare also John Doe.

noun

idiomatic, uncountable A generic individual; some hypothetical average or ordinary citizen. Near-synonyms: everyman; Tom, Dick or Harry; Joe Sixpack
Similar: Joe Average, Joe Bloggs, Joe Blow, Joe Doakes, Joe Public, Joe Q. Public, Joe Schmoe, J. Random User, man on the street, everyman, Tom, Dick or Harry, Joe Sixpack

Translations

Every language

noun a generic individual; some hypothetical average or ordinary citizen

Português	Manuel Dos Santos, João da Silva, José da Silva, Zé da Silva
Français	Jean Dupont
Deutsch	Max Mustermann, Otto Normalverbraucher
Italiano	Mario Rossi
Русский	Ива́н Ива́нович Iván Ivánovič

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"John Q. Public." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/john%20q.%20public. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

John Q. Public. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/john%20q.%20public

Chicago

"John Q. Public." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/john%20q.%20public.

BibTeX

@misc{john_q_public_2026,
  title = {John Q. Public},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/john%20q.%20public},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}