Yokel

/ˈjoʊkəl/ noun

Definition

A person from the country or countryside, often used to describe someone considered unsophisticated or rural.

Etymology

From Old English 'geoca' meaning yoke-fellow or companion. The term shifted to mean a rural person by the 1700s, eventually becoming somewhat derogatory.

Kelly Says

The word 'yokel' literally comes from 'yoke'—farmers who worked animals in pairs were seen as country folk, and the term stuck as an insult for rural people.

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