bumpkin

Where does the word "bumpkin" come from? It comes from Dutch boomken, and was adopted directly into English (1570s).

Bumpkin’s story begins in Dutch: boomken meant “little tree.” A diminutive of 'boom', tree or log. It reached English by 1570s as bumpkin. First an English jibe at stout, stumpy Dutchmen, then at clumsy country folk; later, settled on the modern sense of an awkward yokel. Today, bumpkin means an unsophisticated person from the countryside.

1. Stage 1 · Dutch · 1500s boomken "little tree", a diminutive of 'boom', tree or log.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1570s bumpkin "a short, stumpy man; later an unsophisticated rural person", first an English jibe at stout, stumpy Dutchmen, then at clumsy country folk; later, settled on the modern sense of an awkward yokel.