raiyat
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Urdu رَعِیَّت (ra'iyat, “peasant”), from Classical Persian رعیت (ra'iyyat, “peasants; population”), from Arabic رَعِيَّة (raʕiyya, “flock, herd”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈɹaɪət/
- Hyphenation: rai‧yat
Noun edit
raiyat (plural raiyats or raiyat)
- A peasant or agricultural labourer in South Asia.
- 1874, Lál Behári Day, Govinda Sámanta, or the history of a Bengal Ráiyat:
- In Ireland Paddy makes riots, in Bengal raiyats make paddy; and in this lies the difference between the paddy of green Bengal and Paddy of the Emerald Isle.
- 1909, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere. Part II.”, in Under the Deodars (The Works of Rudyard Kipling), Edinburgh de Luxe edition, Boston, Mass., London: The Edinburgh Society, →OCLC, page 22:
- They are simply the rank-and-file—the food for fever—sharing with the ryot and the plough-bullock the honor of being the plinth on which the State rests.