peasant

[ pez-uhnt ]

noun

1. a member of a class of persons, as in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, who are small farmers or farm laborers of low social rank.
2. a coarse, unsophisticated, boorish, uneducated person of little financial means.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of peasants or their traditions, way of life, crafts, etc.
2. of or designating a style of clothing modeled on the folk costumes of Western cultures, especially women's full-sleeved, round-necked blouses and long, full skirts.

peasant

/ ˈpɛzənt /

noun

1. 1. a member of a class of low social status that depends on either cottage industry or agricultural labour as a means of subsistence
   2. ( as modifier )

      peasant dress

2. informal.
   a person who lives in the country; rustic
3. informal.
   an uncouth or uncultured person

peasant

1. A farmer or agricultural worker of low status . The word is applied chiefly to agricultural workers in Asia , Europe , and South America , who generally adhere to traditional agricultural practices and have little social mobility or freedom.

Other Words From

• peasant·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of peasant¹

1375–1425; late Middle English paissaunt < Anglo-French paisant, Old French païsant, earlier païsenc, equivalent to païs country (< Late Latin pāgēnsis, equivalent to Latin pāg ( us ) country district + -ēnsis -ensis ) + -enc < Germanic ( -ing ³ )

Word History and Origins

Origin of peasant¹

C15: from Anglo-French, from Old French païsant, from païs country, from Latin pāgus rural area; see pagan

Example Sentences

To do this, it transforms itself into an old peasant, a fellow Buddhist or a beautiful young woman.

From Washington Post

It falls squarely in the cibo povero, or peasant food, category.

From Fortune

Some toilet-oriented regurgitation was involved, followed by comical sweating, like you see in “The Wizard of Id” comic strip from a peasant before he is hanged.

From Washington Post

His coordinators weren’t being snared away from him every other year by desperate peasants such as Texas.

From Washington Post

This playful memorial recognizes the role of service workers and the taste for imported peasant cuisine.

From Washington Post

He was a large man, totally bald, with the rough hands of a peasant.

From The Daily Beast

After wandering at haphazard some little way I met a peasant in a sleigh.

From The Daily Beast

Some “new men” from peasant and artisan backgrounds rose, but many others became part of an impoverished proletariat.

From The Daily Beast

Pretty well by Russian standards—a free peasant was known as a smerd, meaning “stinker.”

From The Daily Beast

Entertaining used to require intelligence or a measure of wit or, at least, peasant cunning.

From The Daily Beast

But the observation he thoughtlessly uttered in French seemed to excite the peasant's attention.

From Project Gutenberg

She was the daughter of a peasant of Livonia, married a Swedish dragoon, who was killed on the same day in battle.

From Project Gutenberg

In a springtime landscape a young peasant girl is seated beneath a tree, looking before her over a sunlit plain.

From Project Gutenberg

The king smiled, and remembering his past pleasures, ordered a thousand crowns to the peasant.

From Project Gutenberg

He was the fourth son of a peasant proprietor of Lectourne, a little town on the slopes of the Pyrenees.

From Project Gutenberg