Plural of backwoodsman; multiple men who live in or come from remote forest regions.
From 'backwoodsman' with the irregular plural '-men' (Old English 'mann'). Standard plural form used since the 1700s.
The backwoodsmen of Appalachia, the Ozarks, and similar regions developed distinctive folk traditions, dialects, and ballads that still influence American music today because they were isolated enough to preserve older English language patterns.
Plural of gendered occupational term. Masculine '-men' as default plural erases women's participation in frontier life and work, treating maleness as the universal category for backwoods people.
Use 'backwoods settlers,' 'backwoods residents,' or 'frontier people' for mixed or unspecified groups. Use 'backwoodsmen' only for all-male groups.
["backwoods settlers","backwoods residents","frontier inhabitants","backwoods people"]
Frontier women—including enslaved women and Indigenous women—were core to survival and development. Historical records show their labor in hunting, agriculture, and shelter-building, which masculine-only terminology obscures.
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