peasant

peasant — noun

1. a poor farmer, especially in older societies or less wealthy regions, who lives

1.nounC1
Definition

a poor farmer, especially in older societies or less wealthy regions, who lives by working a very small area of land.

Example

Medieval peasants paid part of their wheat harvest to the local lord.

historical setting: peasants under a lord

The novel follows a peasant family through one hard winter.

common phrase: a peasant family

Common collocations
  • peasant family
  • peasant village
  • peasant revolt
  • poor peasants
  • landless peasants
Synonyms
  • farmer

    the broad neutral word for someone who grows crops or keeps animals

  • smallholder

    stresses owning or using a very small farm, without the strong class sense

  • tenant farmer

    specifically a farmer who rents land from someone else

Antonyms
  • landowner

    someone who owns the land rather than working it as a poor farmer

  • lord

    in historical contexts, a higher social rank above peasants

Grammar Patterns

a peasant family

peasants work the land

poor peasants in + place/time

Usage Note

Usually used for historical societies or for very poor rural communities, not for modern farmers in general. In neutral modern English, 'farmer' is the safer word.

Common Mistakes

My uncle owns a large modern farm, so he is a peasant.
My uncle owns a large modern farm, so he is a farmer.
'peasant' usually suggests poverty, low social rank, or a historical setting.
The peasants in Canada bought new machines for their huge farms.
The farmers in Canada bought new machines for their huge farms.
the ordinary word for present-day farm workers or owners is usually 'farmer'.

2. an insulting word for someone seen as rude, rough, or lacking basic manners or e

2.nounC2
Definition

an insulting word for someone seen as rude, rough, or lacking basic manners or education.

Example

The hotel manager called the noisy guests peasants after midnight.

insult pattern: call someone a peasant

Don't call Ben a peasant because he ate pizza by hand.

Common collocations
  • call someone a peasant
  • act like a peasant
  • look like a peasant
  • treat someone like a peasant
Synonyms
  • boor

    more literary and focused on bad manners

  • lout

    suggests rude, awkward behavior and little consideration for others

  • oaf

    often stresses clumsy or foolish behavior more than class

Antonyms
  • gentleman

    traditional word for a man seen as polite and well-mannered

  • lady

    traditional word for a woman seen as polite and refined

Grammar Patterns

call someone a peasant

treat someone like a peasant

peasants in mocking speech

Usage Note

Strongly insulting and often tied to class prejudice. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense attacks a person's manners or social image, not their real job.

Common Mistakes

The peasants in the village grew rice and beans.
The farmers in the village grew rice and beans.
sense 2 is an insult, so it is wrong if you only mean people who farm.
My classmate is a peasant because her family is poor.
My classmate comes from a poor family.
calling someone 'a peasant' is offensive and judges the person, not just their income.

Word family

  • peasantry
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Peasant and farmer can both refer to someone working the land, but peasant usually adds ideas of poverty, low social rank, or a historical setting. Farmer is the broad neutral word and fits modern agriculture much better. Smallholder is closer in size, because it points to a very small farm, but it does not automatically suggest a lower class position. Serf is different again: a serf was legally tied to a lord's land in some old societies, so not every peasant was a serf. You might read about peasants in a medieval village, but you would normally call a woman running a modern apple farm a farmer.

peasant ↗farmer ↗smallholderserf

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Peasant came into English through French forms such as paysant or paysan, which meant a person from the countryside. Those forms grew from a word for 'country' or 'district' that goes back to Latin pagus, meaning a rural area. In English, the word later narrowed to a poor small farmer and then developed an insulting use for someone seen as rough or badly mannered.