métayer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: a sharecropper who cultivates a landlord's land for a portion, often half, of the harvest while the landlord supplies stock, seed, or tools

   Under the métayer system, the tenant supplied labor and divided the crop with the landowner.

Borrowed from French métayer, from Old French forms related to Late Latin medietarius ('one who divides by halves'), from medietas ('half'). The name reflects the traditional division of the crop between tenant and landlord.

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