noun Informal
- an unsophisticated person from a rural area; a country bumpkin.
noun
- derogatory (used chiefly by townspeople) a person who lives in the country, esp one who appears to be simple and old-fashioned
n.1812, perhaps from dialectal German Jokel, disparaging name for a farmer, originally diminutive of Jakob. Or perhaps from English yokel, dialectal name for “woodpecker.”