noun

yokel

YOH-kul/ˈjəʊkl/

An insulting term for a rural person considered unsophisticated.

The gardener risks being dismissed as a yokel for licking her plate at dinner.

A rural market gardener at a formal restaurant lifts her plate to lick the remaining sauce, while her companion continues eating neatly with cutlery.

Etymology

The origin is uncertain: perhaps a German pet form of Jakob used disparagingly for a farmer, or perhaps an English dialect name for a woodpecker. Neither explanation securely establishes how the rural insult arose.

In context

Cinemapod88:01

he pretends that he's just kind of a yokel

Dirty Harry: Well do you, punk?

More examples

She resented being treated like a yokel because of her accent.
The comedy relies on an unfair yokel stereotype.
Calling him a yokel revealed the speaker’s prejudice.

Forms

yokel · yokels

Similar words

bumpkin: Bumpkin is a similar insulting stereotype of a supposedly unsophisticated rural person.
rustic: Rustic can neutrally describe country life; yokel is an insult directed at a person.