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1. A usually uninhabited area inaccessible by roads or by regular public transportation:The hikers bought lightweight camping gear for use in the backcountry.
2. A sparsely inhabited rural region:"the lean-muscled, laconic hero from the backcountry who comes strolling down Main Street while the townsfolk point and whisper"(Daniel Coyle).
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.