(or ; russian: разночинцы; ; ), ). was an official term introduced in the Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire in the 17th century to define a social estate that included the lower

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and carry out the administration of justice in Civil law (common law), civil, C ...

and governmental ranks, children of personal ''dvoryans'', and

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

d military. The category of grew significantly during the massive trimming down of the category of service class people (russian: служилые люди) in the second half of the 17th century. were of taxable estate, meaning those who had to pay

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments f ...

(russian: подушная подать). In the mid-18th century the category was abolished and a significant part of were transferred into peasantry, but many became merchants and various urban categories (urban ). As a result, of the 17th and 18th centuries significantly contributed to the urban growth in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

.Siberian Merchantry of 18-19th Centuries
Later, in the common speech the term acquired a somewhat opposite meaning— became to denote persons of non-noble origin who due to their education were excluded from the taxable status and could apply for the status of personal distinguished citizenship (russian: личное почетное гражданство). A significant number of Russian ''

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

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