Ruritan

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A member of the Ruritan Club, an American civic organization focused on service to rural communities
2. Someone belonging to a volunteer service club founded in 1928 to support small towns and countryside areas
3. A participant in a national fraternal club that organizes community projects in rural parts of the United States

Etymology: "Ruritan" is a coined name rather than a word that evolved over centuries. It belongs to Ruritan National, a civic service club founded in the American South to serve rural communities, and the name was chosen to tie the organization to country life. As an adjective, it describes things that belong to the club, such as a Ruritan meeting or a Ruritan project. Because the term was invented for an organization, its history is mostly the history of that organization and its name. It has no older sense to recover and no earlier usage as a common word, so its meaning is simply the name of the club and what it stands for.