rustic

/ˈrʌstɪk/

/ˈrʌstɪk/

Other forms: rustics; rustically

When you think of the word rustic, think of the rural country. This word can be given a positive or a negative spin depending on how you use it; a rustic inn, for example, might be quaint or it might be virtually uninhabitable.

The words rustic and "rural" spring from the same ancient root: *rur-, which means "open space" in the hypothetical ancestor language Proto-Indo-European. In early usage, these two words were used interchangeably, but now, rural is used to describe locations –- "rural community," "rural location" — while rustic refers to the unrefined qualities associated with country life. The best antonym is cosmopolitan, which implies the sophistication and worldliness of city life.

Definitions of rustic

1. adjective

   characteristic of rural life
   “rustic awkwardness”

   synonyms: countrified, countryfied

   rural

   living in or characteristic of farming or country life
2. adjective

   characteristic of the fields or country
   “rustic stone walls”

   synonyms: agrestic

   rural

   living in or characteristic of farming or country life
3. adjective

   awkwardly simple and provincial
   “rustic farmers”

   synonyms: bumpkinly, hick, unsophisticated

   provincial

   characteristic of the provinces or their people
4. noun

   an unsophisticated country person
   types:

   coon

   an eccentric or undignified rustic

   countryman, ruralist

   a man who lives in the country and has country ways

   countrywoman

   a woman who lives in the country and has country ways

   bushwhacker, hillbilly

   a disparaging term for an unsophisticated person

   bucolic, peasant, provincial

   a country person

   redneck

   a poor White person in the southern United States

   woodman, woodsman

   someone who lives in the woods

   bumpkin, chawbacon, hayseed, hick, rube, yahoo, yokel

   a person who is not very intelligent or interested in culture

   cottar, cotter

   a peasant farmer in the Scottish Highlands

   moujik, mujik, muzhik, muzjik

   a Russian peasant (especially prior to 1917)

   type of:

   common man, common person, commoner

   a person who holds no title