peasant
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English
Etymology
From Late Middle English paissaunt, from Anglo-Norman paisant, from Old French païsant, païsan (“countryman, peasant”), from païs (“country”), from Latin pāgus (“district”) + Old French -enc (“member of”), from Frankish -inc, -ing "-ing"; which was an alteration of earlier Late Latin pāgēnsis (“inhabitant of a district”). Doublet of paisano.
Pronunciation
Noun
peasant (plural peasants)
- A member of the lowly social class that toils on the land, constituted by small farmers and tenants, sharecroppers, farmhands and other laborers on the land where they form the main labor force in agriculture and horticulture.
- 1986, Martin Kitchen, British Policy Towards the Soviet Union during the Second World War, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 137:
- The Ambassador warned him of the consequences if his mission to Moscow were a failure, both to Churchill's position at home and to Russia's prospects in the war. He insisted that he should not allow himself to be offended 'by a peasant who didn't know any better'. Churchill listened in silence, then returned to the dacha leaving Clark Kerr outside.
- A country person.
- (derogatory) An uncouth, crude or ill-bred person.
- Synonyms: boor; see also Thesaurus:country bumpkin
- (strategy games) A worker unit.
Derived terms
Translations
member of the agriculture low class
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country person
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uncouth, crude, or ill-bred person
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strategy games: worker unit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Adjective
peasant (not comparable)
- (attributive) Characteristic of or relating to a peasant or peasants; unsophisticated.
- peasant class
- 2007, Brad Bird, Ratatouille, spoken by Colette
- Ratatouille? It's a peasant dish. Are you sure you want to serve this to Ego?
- (obsolete, derogatory) Lowly, vulgar; reprehensible; dishonest.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 520:
- Oh what a Rogue and Pesant slave am I?
Further reading
- "peasant" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 231.