Peasant Meant Someone From the Countryside
A peasant is a small farmer or agricultural worker. The word simply meant country dweller before it became an insult.
A peasant is a small farmer working land, often as a tenant. The word carried no scorn at first: Old French *paisant* meant someone from the *pays*, the country. English turned it into an insult, and historians now use it as a neutral technical term for a class that made up most of medieval Europe.
- A small farmer or farm worker. *Peasant farmers.*
- An unsophisticated person (offensive). *He called them peasants.*
- Peasant as a modifier in food and dress. *Peasant bread.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | peasant | A landless peasant. |
| Plural | peasants | The peasants revolted. |
| Adjective | peasant | Peasant cooking. |
| Noun | peasantry | The rural peasantry. |
| Related | serf | A bonded serf. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Peasant holdings were rarely more than a few acres.Historical writing.
- The Peasants' Revolt began in 1381.An English uprising over taxation and labour laws.
- It is peasant food, and none the worse for it.Meaning simple and traditional.
Rural ranks in medieval Europe
- Freeholder — owned land outright
- Tenant farmer — rented land for money or produce
- Serf — bound to the land and to a lord
- Villein — a serf with some rights, in English law
- Cottar — held only a cottage and a small plot
From Old French *paisant*, from *pais*, country, from Latin *pagus*, a rural district. The same *pagus* gives *pagan*, which originally meant a country dweller.
Peasant or serf?
Serfs were legally bound to the land and could not leave. Peasant is the wider term and includes free tenants and smallholders.
Is *peasant* offensive?
As an insult, yes. As a historical or agricultural term it is neutral and still used by economists and historians.