Rustic, rural; relating to peasant ways.
Množina: peasants
ETYM Old Fren. paďsant (the i being perh. due to confusion with the p. pr. of verbs), paďsan, French paysan, from Old Fren. and French pays country, from Latin pagus the country. Related to Pagan.
1. A country person; SYN. provincial, bucolic.
2. A crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement; SYN. barbarian, boor, churl, Goth, tyke, tike.
3. One of a (chiefly European) class of agricultural laborers.
Country-dweller engaged in small-scale farming. A peasant normally owns or rents a small amount of land, working with an aim to be self-sufficient and to sell surplus supplies locally.
In the uk, the move toward larger farms in the 18th century resulted in the disappearance of the independent peasantry, although small-scale farming survives in smallholdings and Scottish crofts. Landowners in countries such as France, Spain, and Italy showed less direct interest in agriculture, so the tradition of small independent landholding remains a distinctive way of life today. See also commune.