English

Alternative forms

• paisan

Noun

paisano ‎(plural paisanos)

1. Peasant; rustic
2. One's fellow countryman; compatriot
3. (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.
4. native, especially a native of California of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry
5. (US, Southwest 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

• anopsia

Neapolitan

Noun

1. see Italian paesano
2. a fellow countryman or compatriot

Spanish

Etymology

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

Noun

paisano m ‎(plural paisanos, feminine paisana)

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

Related terms

• paisanaje