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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

When bovine TB led to the loss of his entire herd, dairy farmer Mervyn Kelso struggled with the sadness of the empty fields and the silence of the milking yard.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

"This is contributing significantly to the rise in the cost of basic goods," said Elena Aine, a 40-year-old farmer.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

In rural Pennsylvania, third-generation farmer Jim Barbour isn’t convinced that elevated inflation is here to stay.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Even Graham Platner, the scruffy Maine oyster farmer, was winning Obama-esque praise before his Senate candidacy imploded.

From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026

Every farmer I knew was dosing liberally with bicarbonate of soda to ease the same pain in their own stomachs.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Sam Farmer makes his picks and score predictions for Week 1 of the 2026 season, with the Rams winning in Australia and the Chargers beating the Cardinals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Farmer Lloyd Stone, who supplies Riverford Organic Farmers, has been donating produce to Food in Community from his fields near Ashburton for two years.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 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

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

Farmer and his team eventually left the room, but only after it was clear Joe had been comforted and Farmer had earned his trust.

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

"And he thought we were worth chatting to because we were farmers."

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

We spoke to farmers, manufacturers and economists to see how companies are navigating the pricing maze—and what consumers can expect at checkout.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Almost half of those killed in the country were members of indigenous groups, while many of the remaining ones were small-scale farmers, Global Witness's report says.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Wholesalers—the largest component of Canada’s services sector—connect farmers or manufacturers that produce goods with the companies and public institutions that use them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Though racial segregation was imposed in town, during planting season and the harvest, Colored people and Whites became just a community of farmers coming together to help one another live.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Related Words

• grower
• laborer
• peasant
• producer
• rancher