farmer

¹ American  

[fahr-mer] / ˈfɑr mər /

noun

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

• farmerlike adjective
• profarmer adjective
• underfarmer noun

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”; farm, -er ²

Example Sentences

David Dunlop, a farmer based in the area, said he used a digger to create dams out of soil to try and redirect the flooding from the houses.

From BBC

These deposits are the lifeblood of the economy, especially in areas outside major cities, where local banks use them to finance loans to individuals, small businesses and farmers.

From Barron's

Whether it’s going out to sell at farmers markets or picking up supplies, it’s always the van that’s used.

From Literature

As we wander through the market, we finally come across a farmer selling beautiful purple eggplants.

From Literature

The higher consumption of fertilizer goes along with the greater amounts of crops produced by Brazilian farmers—with a new record of soybean production expected by Conab and agricultural research firms in 2026.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• grower
• laborer
• peasant
• producer
• rancher