Plainsmen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who lives or works on large expanses of flat terrain, playing a role in agricultural practices and local heritage
2. A person engaged in the routines and traditions associated with life in level countryside regions, often involved in farming or ranching activities
3. A person who inhabits or is associated with extensive flatlands, typically involved in agricultural activities and embodying local cultural practices

Etymology: "Plainsmen" is the plural of "plainsman," a compound formed from "plains" and "-man." The plural "plains" comes from Middle English "pleyn" (flat, open country), while the "man" element descends all the way back to Proto-Indo-European "*mon-" and Old English "mann," meaning a human being. Joined together, the compound simply describes a person of the open flatlands. The second element deserves a note of its own. Old English "mann" meant a human being of either sex, not a male specifically, and that broad sense survives in many English compounds. Its modern use as a suffix for a person connected with a place or occupation, as in "horseman" or "countryman," follows the same pattern as "plainsman."

Synonyms: frontiersmen, pioneers, settlers