Meaning

noun a country person

noun one of a (chiefly European) class of agricultural laborers

noun a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement

originFrom Late Middle English paissaunt, from Anglo-Norman paisant, from Old French païsant, païsan (“countryman, peasant”), from païs (“country”), from Latin pāgus (“countryside”) + Old French -enc (“member of”), from Frankish -inc, -ing "-ing"; which was an alteration of earlier Late Latin pāgēnsis (“inhabitant of a district”). Doublet of paisano. Via Latin pāgus cognate with pagan (compare…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0