- boor
- 13c., from O.Fr. bovier "herdsman," from L. bovis, gen. of bos "cow, ox." Re-introduced 16c. from Du. boer, from M.Du. gheboer "fellow dweller," from P.Gmc. *buram "dweller," especially "farmer," from PIE *bhu-, from base *bheue- (see be). Original meaning was "peasant farmer" (cf. Ger. Bauer, Du. boer, Dan. bonde), and in English it was at first applied to agricultural laborers in or from other lands, as opposed to the native yeoman; negative connotation first attested 1560s (in boorish), from notion of clownish rustics. Related: Boorishness.