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!

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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