people belonging to a high social class 绅士阶层;上流社会人士 the local gentry 当地的绅士阶层 the landed gentry (= those who own a lot of land) 乡绅
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘superiority of birth or rank’): from Anglo-Norman French genterie, based on gentil ‘high-born, noble’, from Latin gentilis ‘of the same clan’, from gens, gent- ‘family, race’, from the root of gignere ‘beget’.