peasant

noun

peas·​ant ˈpe-zᵊnt 

1

: a member of a European class of persons tilling the soil as small landowners or as laborers

This land was farmed by peasants for centuries.

also : a member of a similar class elsewhere

2

: a usually uneducated person of low social status

They treated us like a bunch of peasants.

Examples of peasant in a Sentence

They treated us like a bunch of peasants.

Recent Examples on the Web

Once known to be a peasant’s dish, according to one story, the addition of feta in the 1960s really put it on the proverbial map. —Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 19 June 2025

Exacerbating the widespread unrest was the royal family’s close relationship with Grigori Rasputin, a Siberian peasant who claimed to wield control over the health of Alexei, the czar’s only son. —Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 June 2025

Set between the late 1930s and 1954, the movie retells the Algerian War of Independence through the eyes of a peasant farmer, exploring the roots of the movement and depicting the harshness of French colonial rule. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 28 May 2025

Part 2: fifteen years later, while fleeing Petrograd, Nabokov’s father is accosted on a bridge by a gray-bearded peasant, who asks for a light and proves to be Kuropatkin in disguise. —Elif Batuman, New Yorker, 1 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English paissaunt, from Anglo-French paisant, pesaunt, from pais, paiis country, from Late Latin pagensis inhabitant of a district, from Latin pagus district; akin to Latin pangere to fix — more at pact

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for peasant

• pheasant
• pleasant
• present
• omnipresent
• unpleasant

Kids Definition

peasant

noun

peas·​ant ˈpez-ᵊnt 

1

: a European small farmer or farm laborer

2

: a member of a similar agricultural class elsewhere