paesano

American  

[pahy-zon-oh] / paɪˈzɒnˌoʊ /

Also paesan

noun

plural

paesani, paesanos

1. a person who shares one’s place of origin; a compatriot, especially among Italians or people of Italian descent.

2. a person associated with the Italian mafia; mafioso.

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Etymology

Origin of paesano

First recorded in 1930–35; from Italian; literally, “countryman, fellow countryman,” from Late Latin adjective and noun pāgēnsis “pertaining to the country or a country district; an inhabitant of the country”; pagan ( def. ), peasant ( def. )

Example Sentences

Out in the hill villages, living in bleak cottages and scratching a bare living from the thin soil of the peninsula, the poverty-stricken paesano was the man of the hour.

From Time Magazine Archive

If the man is in the city some "landsmann," some "paesano" has seen him, and knows where he is to be found.

From Broken Homes A Study of Family Desertion and its Social Treatment by Colcord, Joanna C.