† agrestadj.n.

Etymology: < (i) Middle French agreste (French agreste ) (noun) peasant, country person (1210 in Old French), (adjective) rural, rustic (c1220), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin agrestis (adjective) of or relating to a field or fields, (of plants) grown in the fields, (of animals) living in the fields, characteristic of the countryside, rustic, rural, (of animals or plants) wild, (of people or their behaviour) coarse, uncivilized, unsophisticated, simple, (as noun) country person, rustic, peasant < agr- , ager field (see acre n.) + -estris, suffix forming adjectives, with dissimilatory loss of -r-. Compare Catalan agrest (13th cent.), Spanish agreste (c1275; compare also †agresto (2nd half of the 14th cent.)), Portuguese agreste (a1515), Italian agreste (end of the 13th cent.; compare also agresto, adjective (1305–6) and noun (a1347)).Compare Middle English agresta , wiyn agrestis , wyn agreste denoting verjuice, after Middle French aigrest , agrest verjuice (12th cent. in Old French as aigret ) and post-classical Latin agresta verjuice (from 13th cent. in British sources). Compare later vinaigrette n.