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• farmer
  farmer

  noun

  a person who farms; person who operates a farm or cultivates land.
• Farmer
  Farmer

  noun

  Fannie (Merritt) 1857–1915, U.S. authority on cooking.

farmer

¹ American  

[fahr-mer] / ˈfɑr mər /

noun

• farmers
  plural

1. a person who farms; person who operates a farm or cultivates land.

2. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. an unsophisticated or ignorant person, especially one from a rural area.

3. Archaic. a person who undertakes some service, as the care of children or poor people, at a fixed price.

4. Archaic. a person who undertakes the collection of taxes, duties, etc., paying a fixed sum for the privilege of retaining them.

5. Cards.

   1. a variety of twenty-one played with a 45-card pack, the object being to obtain cards having a total worth of 16.

   2. the dealer in this game.

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Farmer ² American  

[fahr-mer] / ˈfɑr mər /

noun

1. Fannie (Merritt) 1857–1915, U.S. authority on cooking.

2. James (Leonard), 1920–1999, U.S. civil rights leader; founder of CORE.

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farmer ¹ British  

/ ˈfɑːmə /

noun

1. a person who operates or manages a farm

2. a person who obtains the right to collect and retain a tax, rent, etc, or operate a franchise for a specified period on payment of a fee

3. a person who looks after a child for a fixed sum

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Farmer ² British  

/ ˈfɑːmə /

noun

1. John. ?1565–1605, English madrigal composer and organist

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Sensitive Note

The word farmer has been used as a derogatory term for an ignorant or unsophisticated person, especially one from a rural area (whether an actual farmer or not), since the 1800's. A couple of citations illustrate this. One early example is found in Artie by George Ade (1896): “I may be a farmer, but it takes better people than you to sling the bull con into me,” uttered by the title character Artie, who is a young office worker and not a farmer. A book review in The Guardian (August 21, 2001) shows a more recent use: “I worked in a couple of those bars where you hustle champagne. They were businessmen, they weren't naive farmers.”

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underfarmer
  noun
• farmerlike
  adjective
• profarmer
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• farmers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of farmer

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English fermer, fermour, from Anglo-French, Old French fermier “collector of revenue,” from Medieval Latin firmārius “one who holds lands or tenement for a fixed number of years or for life”; see origin at farm, -er ²

Explanation

A farmer is a person who runs and works on a farm. Some farmers raise a variety of food crops, while others keep dairy cows and sell their milk. Farmers work in some aspect of agriculture, growing vegetables, grains, or fruit; or raising animals for milk, eggs, or meat. A small farmer manages a relatively small piece of land, often growing different crops and keeping hens for their eggs, for example. Some farmers own their farms, while others rent the land on which they work. In the 14th century, a farmer was "one who collects taxes," from the Old French fermier, "lease holder."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

farmer Farmer farmers

He reached out to O'Connor as a fellow young farmer on social media, then jumped at the chance to be a tester farm for the app.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

"We'll take it in turns as long as it needs -- the team is all set," a farmer from nearby Waremme, told AFP Monday.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

"It was stressful and hot," the farmer explained.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

“These aren’t factory farms. This is real amazing quality local food,” said Bronte Edwards, a Sonoma County-based sheep farmer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Apparently, the phantom fence cutters had struck all around the territory, stirring up trouble between every farmer and the neighboring ranchers.

From "Worth" by A. LaFaye

Farmer Yahuza Isa, who was kidnapped in Zamfara state, expressed the frustration shared by many victims.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

Paine Schwartz has a history of investing in a sustainable food chain, with portfolio companies that include cold-pressed juice maker Suja Life and plant-based dough producer Urban Farmer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

“The circumstances are different between the two states,” said David Farmer, a Maine-based Democratic strategist, “but it’s certainly shaping up to be a strange midterm election with enormous stakes for the country.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

Party wings are another reliable crowd-pleaser: Farmer Focus wings come pre-split, grill quickly and only need a coating of Tabañero BBQ sauce near the end so it can caramelize and get sticky.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

But after our dinner I found myself keeping a distance from Paul Farmer, mainly, I came to realize, because his uneasy.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

The project was called off in 2021 following a decade of legal challenges and protests from environmentalists, farmers, Native American groups and others who cited the threat of spills.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

A teenager from County Down hopes an app he has developed will revolutionise how farms are run, giving hard-pressed farmers more time.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Around 350 firefighters and other emergency personnel remain deployed in the effort, as do the many farmers who mobilised in support of the operation since last week.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

In January, at least 26 people drowned when a boat carrying farmers and fishermen from Jigawa to Yobe state capsized.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

New Guineans tamed sugar cane and bananas, while the first West African farmers made African millet, African rice, sorghum and wheat conform to their needs.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

• grower
• laborer
• peasant
• producer
• rancher