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''Hoosier'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260320113731-00-⌔

Hoosier - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

Hoosier (plural Hoosiers)

  • A native or resident of the U.S. state of Indiana.
    • ✤ Synonym: Indianan (exonym, often proscribed)
    • ✤ Indiana’s Borderlanders called themselves Hoosiers, came from the backcountry of Kentucky and western Virginia, and were ambivalent about slavery.1
  • Someone associated with Indiana University, for example as a student, alum, or sports team member, or as a fan. This is also the university’s sports mascot.
    • 2025 December 13, “Fernando Mendoza becomes 1st Indiana Hoosier to win Heisman”, in NCAAF ‎, ESPN, retrieved 26 March 2026:
  • (slang, St. Louis, Missouri, formerly Southern US) An uneducated, tasteless, boorish white person.23
    • ✤ Synonym: white trash
    • ✤ Near-synonym: (Canada) hoser
    • ✤ “The mall? Belinda, mall pickups are for hoosiers,” I say, St. Louis slang for white trash. “With femullets.” […] “But Jake’s no hoosier.”4
    • ✤ Taken as a whole, the article portrayed Ray as an indigent, racist “Hoosier” (St. Louis slang for redneck) with an inept, habitual tendency to commit petty crimes.5
  • (US, historical) A kind of cupboard or dresser with shelves, drawers, etc.; a kitchenet.

Adjective

Hoosier (comparative more Hoosier, superlative most Hoosier)

  • Characteristic of or pertaining to the American state of Indiana.
    • ✤ Less well known but perhaps even more interesting than Stephenson is Court Asher, the second “gentleman” from Indiana. Asher is a more convincing bigot than Stephenson, one more homegrown and more Hoosier than the puffed-up grand dragon, […]6
    • ✤ That’s not very Hoosier, is it?7
    • ✤ “Somehow the tradition doesn’t seem very Hoosier.”8

Etymology

Uncertain. See Wikipedia’s article on the subject for theories. Popularized by the 1830 John Finley poem “The Hoosier’s Nest”.9

Pronunciation

  • (non-rhotic)
    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈhuːʒə/, [ˈhʊu̯ʒə]
  • (rhotic)
    • (General American) IPA: /ˈhuʒɚ/, [ˈhʊu̯ʒɚ] ~ [ˈhʊu̯ʒɹ̩]
  • Rhymes: -uːʒə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: Hoo‧sier

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 2011, Colin Woodard, chapter 16, in American nations, New York: Penguin, →ISBN: ↩

  2. McDavid, Raven Ioor Jr. (1967), “33. Word Magic: Or, Would You Want Your Daughter to Marry a Hoosier?”, in William A. Kretzschmar, Jr., editor, Dialects in culture: essays in general dialectology ‎, University, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, published 1979, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 255-257. ↩

  3. Murray, Thomas (1986), “The Language of St. Louis, Missouri”, in American United Studies XIII, Linguistics, volume 4 ↩

  4. 2014, Emily Giffin, The Emily Giffin Collection: Volume 2: Baby Proof, →ISBN: ↩

  5. 2015, Pate McMichael, Klandestine: How a Klan Lawyer and a Checkbook Journalist…, page 2: ↩

  6. 1947, John Bartlow Martin, Indiana: An Interpretation, page xi: ↩

  7. 2009, Alden Studebaker, Hoosieritis: The Contagious Condition That Is Indiana, page 51: ↩

  8. 2009, Alexander Lawrence, Blest Be the Tie, book 1: ↩

  9. Mettler, Katie (13 January 2017), “‘Hoosier’ is now the official name for Indiana folk. But what does it even mean?”, in Washington Post, retrieved 19 December 2022 ↩

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