hick
Americannoun
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hicks
plural
adjective
-
pertaining to or characteristic of hicks.
hick ideas.
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located in a rural or culturally unsophisticated area.
a hick town.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hick
1555–65; after Hick, familiar form of Richard
Explanation
A hick is an unsophisticated, rural person. Your accent and fondness for wearing overalls might make some people think you're a hick. The word hick is both informal and derogatory — in other words, if you call your cousin who raises dairy goats and chickens a hick, she'll probably be offended. Hick is an adjective too: "I've got to get out of this hick town!" Hick was originally a nickname — like "Rick" — for "Richard," in the 14th century. Along the way, it meant both "hosteler" and "awkward provincial person."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Old meaning of hick: hayseed, rube, ill-educated person.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
But I was a hick from the north of England.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2024
To find out how the other India lived, JS spent a few days in a dusty hick town in central India.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2023
They’d all gone to art schools — Cooper Union and Cranbrook and Cleveland Institute of Art and Pratt and Parsons — and thought I was this hick.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
We could do without any more news coverage of the “big-time reporter comes to hick town” genre.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Hence the term that they applied to themselves, sophisticated hicks.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2021
Calling people gullible or hicks doesn’t convert anyone.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 1, 2020
Like most such stories, “Bless This Mess” privileges the country over the town, prizes the hicks above the slickers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2019
But didn’t you also see me googling “braxton hicks vs. preterm labor” and “baby not moving”? Did you not see my three days of social-media silence, uncommon for a high-frequency user like me?
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2018
We are playing West Charleston High School and they think they’re coming down here to trounce the hicks.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
