paisano

English

Alternative forms

• paisan

Etymology

From Neapolitan and Spanish paisano, Italian paesano, French paysan. Doublet of peasant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paɪˈzɑ.noʊ/, /paɪˈsɑ.noʊ/

Noun

paisano (plural paisanos)

1. (Alternate spelling of paesano, from Neapolitan language "paisano," often shortened to "paisan" or "paesan") among Italian Americans and Americans of Italian descent, a fellow Italian or Italian-American; a fellow ethnic Italian.
2. A native, especially a native of California of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry.
3. (US, Southwestern US) roadrunner.
   • about 1900, O. Henry, Hygeia at the Solito

     Within a very few minutes the cattleman was mounted and away. Paisano, well named after that ungainly but swift-running bird, struck into his long lope that ate up the ground like a strip of macaroni.

Anagrams

• anopias, anopsia

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Cebuano

Etymology

From Spanish paisano, from Old French païsan, from Latin pagus (“countryside”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: pa‧i‧sa‧no

Noun

paisano

1. a fellow countryman; a compatriot

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Neapolitan

Noun

paisano

1. a fellow countryman or compatriot

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Spanish

Etymology

From Old French païsan, itself from Latin pagus (“countryside”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paiˈsano/ [pai̯ˈsa.no]

Noun

paisano m (plural paisanos, feminine paisana, feminine plural paisanas)

1. a fellow countryman
2. a peasant (someone who lives in the countryside)
3. (Jewish) a fellow Jew

Derived terms

• de paisano

Related terms

• paisanaje

Further reading

• “paisano”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014