everyman

Perhaps from the Flemish play Elckerlijc (c. 1495) or its English translation Everyman (c. 1520).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛvɹiːˌmæn/

everyman (plural everymen)

1. In fiction, drama, or allegory, the archetypical ordinary individual, frequently the protagonist in a parable of some sort.

   Coordinate terms: everywoman, everyboy, everygirl

   Near-synonyms: man on the street, John Q. Public (see more there)

   In the novels of John Updike, sometimes Rabbit is his own man, and sometimes he is everyman.