peasantry
The common folk
Peasantry refers collectively to peasants—rural agricultural workers of low social status, especially in feudal or pre-industrial societies.
The term often carries connotations of poverty, lack of education, and distance from centers of power: The peasantry bore the heaviest burden of taxation.
Used dismissively, it can refer to common people generally: He regarded his employees as mere peasantry.
Strenuous, prolonged effort
- drudgeryHard, boring work
- hardshipSuffering from difficult circumstances
- backbreakingExtremely physically demanding
- sweatMoisture from skin pores
manual · exertion · grind · struggle · endurance · fatigue · work · tilling
Feudal bound labor
- serfBonded agricultural laborer
- vassalLand-holding sworn subordinate
- lordNobleman or ruler
- fiefGranted feudal estate
manor · bondage · servitude · tithe · demesne · manorialism · suzerain · thraldom
Cultivating land for food
- harvestGathering mature crops
- tillageSoil preparation for planting
- plowingTurning earth for crops
- sowingPlanting for cultivation
cultivation · husbandry · crop rotation · threshing · reaping · winnowing · gleaning · haymaking
Ordinary citizens, untitled
- underclassLowest socioeconomic group
- laborersWorkers doing physical tasks
- workersPeople doing jobs
- massesBulk or populace
populace · plebeians · lowborn · humble · serfs · tenantry · proletariat · rank
Small rural community
- countrysideRural area beyond towns
- hamletTiny rural settlement
- pastoralOf countryside or clergy care
- rusticRural and unrefined
bucolic · provincial · farmstead · cottage · thatched · hearth · meadow · field
Inherited cultural narratives
- traditionsLong-established customs passed down
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
folk songs · oral history · crafts · festivals · rituals · heirlooms · proverbs · legacy
State of being related
- villageSmall rural community
- neighborsThose dwelling nearby
- collectiveJointly organized group
- cooperationJoint action toward shared aims
solidarity · clan · fellowship · commune · mutual aid · gathering · elders · customs
Organized resistance to power
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
- unrestState of public disturbance
- pitchforksPronged agricultural tools
riot · resistance · grievance · oppression · exploitation · taxation · conscription · land reform
toil
Strenuous, prolonged effort
- drudgeryHard, boring work
- hardshipSuffering from difficult circumstances
- backbreakingExtremely physically demanding
sweat · manual · exertion · grind · struggle · endurance · fatigue · work · tilling · reaping
serfdom
Feudal bound labor
fief · manor · bondage · servitude · tithe · demesne · manorialism · suzerain · thraldom · villein
farming
Cultivating land for food
sowing · cultivation · husbandry · crop rotation · threshing · reaping · winnowing · gleaning · haymaking · irrigation
commoners
Ordinary citizens, untitled
- underclassLowest socioeconomic group
- laborersWorkers doing physical tasks
- workersPeople doing jobs
masses · populace · plebeians · lowborn · humble · serfs · tenantry · proletariat · rank · hierarchy
village
Small rural community
- countrysideRural area beyond towns
- hamletTiny rural settlement
- pastoralOf countryside or clergy care
rustic · bucolic · provincial · farmstead · cottage · thatched · hearth · meadow · field · pasture
folklore
Inherited cultural narratives
- traditionsLong-established customs passed down
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- ancestryFamily line of descent
lineage · folk songs · oral history · crafts · festivals · rituals · heirlooms · proverbs · legacy · roots
kinship
State of being related
- villageSmall rural community
- neighborsThose dwelling nearby
- collectiveJointly organized group
cooperation · solidarity · clan · fellowship · commune · mutual aid · gathering · elders · customs · communal
uprising
Organized resistance to power
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
- unrestState of public disturbance
pitchforks · riot · resistance · grievance · oppression · exploitation · taxation · conscription · land reform · emancipation
- Old Regimesabsolutism, divine right, feudal system, imperial Russia, tsarist Russia
- historyancient civilizations, past events, historian, epochs, era
- Eastern EuropePoland, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria
- medievalknights, castles, cathedral, kings, queens
- Medieval Eraknights, Middle Ages, castles, feudal lords, medieval period
- medieval societyserfs, noble lineage, serf, heir, lords
peasantrynobility
Titled ruling class
aristocracy · elite · ruling class · gentry · landed gentry
peasantrylandlords
Rental property owners
landowners · landed aristocracy · feudal lords · proprietors · rentiers
peasantryaristocracy
Rule by hereditary elite
courtiers · intelligentsia · urban elite · cosmopolitans · literati
- peasant farmerLow-status agricultural laborer
- peasant blousesLoose gathered folk-style shirts
- peasant food
- medieval peasant
- peasant dressLoose folk-style garment
- peasant shirtLoose gathered folk blouse