yokel

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English

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Etymology

1812, possibly from dialectal German Jokel, diminutive of Jakob, cf. Yankee (“little John”) and jacquerie (“peasant uprising”). Alternatively, from dialectal English yokel (“woodpecker”).[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

yokel (plural yokels)

  1. (derogatory) A person from or living in the countryside, viewed as being unsophisticated or naive.
    Synonyms: boor, bumpkin, country bumpkin, joskin, hillbilly, hick, peasant, provincial, rube, rustic, yahoo; see also Thesaurus:country bumpkin
    They love the scenery near their summer home, but have no desire to mix with the local yokels.
    • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Involves a Critical Position”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. , volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , →OCLC, page 181:
      “ […] my opinion at once is […] that this wasn’t done by a yokel―eh, Duff?”
      “Certainly not,” replied Duff.
      “And, translating the word yokel, for the benefit of the ladies, I apprehend your meaning to be that this attempt was not made by a countryman?” said Mr. Losberne with a smile.
    • 1848 June 28, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Before the Curtain”, in Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , →OCLC, page vii:
      […] and yokels looking up at the tinselled dancers and poor old rouged tumblers, while the light-fingered folk are operating upon their pockets behind.
    • 1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter VIII, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 88:
      He eyed the story-teller with unspeakable wonder. His mouth was agape in yokel fashion.
    • 1938 April, C S Forester [pseudonym; Cecil Louis Troughton Smith], chapter V, in A Ship of the Line, Greenwich edition, London: Michael Joseph, published 1951 (February 1962 printing), →OCLC, pages 40–41:
      "God damn and blast all you hamfisted yokels!" he was saying. "And you, sir, down there. Take that grin off your face and be more careful, or I'll have you clapped under hatches to sail with us today. Easy, there, easy! Christ, rum at seven guineas an anker isn't meant to be dropped like pig iron!"
    • 1985, Peter De Vries, chapter 6, in The Prick of Noon, Penguin, page 119:
      I went to New York and bought myself a secondhand stretch limousine twenty-eight feet long, calculated to reduce the most blasé country-club sophisticates to bug-eyed yokels.
    • 1993, Vikram Seth, chapter 8.6, in A Suitable Boy, London: Phoenix, published 1994, page 560:
      You may think that because you live in Brahmpur you have seen the world―or more of the world than we poor yokels see. But some of us yokels have also seen the world―and not just the world of Brahmpur, but of Bombay. […]
    • 1996, Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel (song), in: The Simpsons, 22 Short Films about Springfield (S07E21), first aired April 14, 1996
      Some folk'll never eat a skunk, but then again some folk'll, like Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “yokel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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