peasant

The word “peasant” means historically, a small farmer or agricultural laborer, especially one with a low social and economic status. In plain terms, historically a poor rural farmworker; today often used jokingly or rudely to call someone unrefined.

“Peasant” is pronounced PEH-zuhnt (/ˈpɛzənt/ in IPA).

Here is “peasant” used in a sentence: “Medieval peasants worked the lord's land in exchange for protection.”

“Peasant” is a noun.

The word “peasant” comes from Latin. From Old French païsant ("countryman"), from païs ("country, region"), ultimately from Latin pāgus ("rural district") — the same root as "pagan".

“Peasant” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the C1 level.

“Peasant” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: historically, a small farmer or agricultural laborer, especially one with a low social and economic status.

It depends on context. Used historically to describe a small farmer or agricultural laborer of low social status, peasant is neutral, but used informally about a modern person to mean unsophisticated or uncultured, it functions as an insult.

Farmer is a general term for anyone who works the land, in any era. Peasant specifically refers, historically, to a farmer or laborer with low social and economic standing.

Because the historical sense of the word carries connotations of low status and poverty, it gets used informally and dismissively to call someone unsophisticated or uncultured. This modern insulting use is distinct from its neutral historical meaning.