peasant

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A poor farmer or farm worker, especially in the past or in poorer countries.

   The peasants worked the land from dawn until dusk.

2. 2
   noun

   A rude or badly behaved person.

   Stop eating with your fingers, you peasant!

Simplified etymology

Peasant entered English in the late Middle Ages and ultimately derives from Latin pagus, "country district," the same root that produced paganus and hence pagan.

From Late Middle English paissaunt, from Anglo-Norman paisant, from Old French païsant, païsan (“countryman, peasant”), from païs (“country”), from Latin pāgus (“countryside”) + Old French -enc (“member of”), from Frankish -inc, -ing "-ing"; which was an alteration of earlier Late Latin pāgēnsis (“inhabitant of a district”). Doublet of paisano. Via Latin pāgus cognate with pagan (compare typologically, see there for more).

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary