'backwoodsman' originates from English, specifically formed from the compound 'backwoods' + 'man', where 'back' meant 'rear/remote', 'wood' meant 'forest' and 'man' meant 'person'.

'backwoods' (used from the late 18th century, especially in American English) combined with 'man' to form 'backwoodsman' in the early 19th century; the plural form 'backwoodsmen' developed as a regular plural.

Initially it meant 'a man who lives in the backwoods (remote wooded areas)'; over time it also gained broader and sometimes pejorative senses meaning 'an unsophisticated rural person'.