Caipira

Caipira (Portuguese pronunciation: [kajˈpiɾɐ] (listen); Old Tupi ka'apir or kaa - pira, which means "bush cutter") is an inhabitant of rural or remote areas in the interior of the south-central part of Brazil. Their racial origins and traditional culture is similar to those of the caiçaras, who inhabit the coastal regions of the south, and the ribeirinhos, who are riverbank dwellers in the Amazon region.

Portrait of a Caipira (1893) by Almeida Júnior.

By extension, the term caipira can also be applied to the different cultural manifestations of the caipiras, such as their folk music. It is also the name of a group of dialects of Portuguese spoken in the interior part of the State of São Paulo and adjacent areas of neighbouring states.

The term can be considered pejorative when used to describe others (akin to "yokel", "hillbilly" and "country bumpkin"), with synonyms like matuto and jeca, but it can also be used as a self-identifier without negative connotations (akin to "melungeon"). In the traditional festas juninas people who are not otherwise considered as such dress up as stereotypical caipiras.

The diminutive form of the word, caipirinha, is the name of a cocktail considered Brazil's national drink.[1]