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noun, masculine

gañán

/ɡaˈɲan/

noun, masculine/ɡaˈɲan/plural: gañanes

Stupid and bad-mannered rural man from the Spanish countryside; yokel, hick; farmhand

Unknown, with mainly two Germanic and Arabic etymologies considered. The traditional early proposition was a descent from Latin ganeō (“glutton, libertine”), but this has been mostly discarded. The DRAE considers the ultimate source to be Arabic غَنَّام (ḡannām, “shepherd”). Coromines favours a derivation from Middle French gaignant (“unskilled laborer, lout, ruffian, etc.”).