Hawbuck

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A clumsy, unsophisticated country person regarded with mild contempt as lacking polish or city manners
2. An old-fashioned term for a rough, awkward rural bumpkin who seems naive to townspeople
3. A derogatory label for a simple farm laborer or countryman considered coarse and unrefined

Etymology: In English dialect and slang, a hawbuck is a clownish, unsophisticated countryman, the sort of rustic a city dweller would find laughable. The word appears to be a compound of "haw," a hedge or hedgerow (the name comes from the red berries of the hawthorn that grow along them), and "buck," an informal word for a fellow or man. Read together, the parts suggest a man of the hedges, someone from the fields and lanes rather than the town. The exact path by which the two words were joined is not well documented, so the explanation rests on the parts' meanings rather than on a recorded first use.

Synonyms: yokel, bumpkin, hick, rube, hayseed