α. 1900s– Hickville.
β. 1900s– Hicksville.
Also with lower-case initial.Hicksvillen.
/ˈhɪksvɪl/, U.S. /ˈhɪksˌvɪl/ Originally and chiefly U.S.
(The type of) an unsophisticated, rural, small town.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town > [noun] > small town > unimportant small town
mudhole1784
toytown1816
Podunk1840
one-horse town1855
tank town1906
jerkwater1912
Hicksville1921
bumfuck1972
1921 E. O'Neill Straw i. ii. 46 Making a note that a tug boat towed two barges loaded with coal up the river, that Mrs. Perkins spent a weekend with relatives in Hickville.
1961 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 6 Mar. 6/6 You would be hard pressed today to find an audience that would merit the contemptuous ‘cornball, strictly from hicksville’ label that a vaudevillian in the 1920s might have used.
1985 Guardian (Nexis) 16 Apr. New Yorkers talk of neighborhood restaurants, bars and greengrocers with a pride that belies their efforts to escape from Hicksville, Tennessee, where everyone knew them.
1996 H. Coben Fade Away i. 9 Greg is just hanging out in French Lick or whatever hickville town he goes to in the off-season, fishing.
2004 Mirror (Nexis) 9 May 16 An out-of-the-way hicksville this ain't.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1921