gañán

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.”).

• IPA^(key): /ɡaˈɲan/ [ɡaˈɲãn]
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: ga‧ñán

gañán m (plural gañanes)

1. (derogatory, Spain) Stupid and bad-mannered rural man from the Spanish countryside; yokel, hick
2. farmhand

• “gañán”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Etymology (in Spanish)