- The definition of a peasant is a country person, a farmer or a crude person.
- An example of a peasant is a person who grows vegetables for a living.
- An example of a peasant is someone who constantly uses foul language.
An elderly peasant woman.
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noun
- any person of the class of small farmers or of farm laborers, as in Europe or Asia
- a person regarded as coarse, boorish, ignorant, etc.
Origin: L Middle English paissaunt from Anglo-French paisant from Middle French païsent from Old French from païs, country from Late Latin pagensis, belonging to the district from pagus, district: see pagan
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noun
- A member of the class constituted by small farmers and tenants, sharecroppers, and laborers on the land where they form the main labor force in agriculture.
- A country person; a rustic.
- An uncouth, crude, or ill-bred person; a boor.
Origin: Middle English paissaunt, from Old French paisant, from pais, country, from Late Latin pāgēnsis, inhabitant of a district, from Latin pāgus, district; see pag- in Indo-European roots.
peasant - Cultural Definition
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.