Arkie

noun

Ar·​kie

ˈärkē,

ˈȧkē,

-ki

plural -s

1

informal : a native or resident of Arkansas

It's always good to welcome back a fellow Arkie who's been away all too long.

—Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 16 May 2012

2

informal, sometimes disparaging : an itinerant agricultural worker

especially : such a worker from Arkansas in the 1930s

In the South the number of sharecroppers farms dropped from 776,278 in 1930 to 541, 291 in 1940. The result was a homeless population, some of whom, known in the folklore of the times as "Okies" and "Arkies," packed up and took off for California.

—Mary Beth Norton et al., A People and a Nation, 1988

compare okie

Word History

Etymology

Arkansas + -ie

First Known Use

1927, in the meaning defined above

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