Etymologically
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farmer

Etymology and origin of the English word farmer

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1385
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman fermer
Ultimate origin
Medieval Latin (firma)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfɑː.mə/ (UK); /ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English fermour, fermer, borrowed from Anglo-Norman fermer, Old French fermier (“lease-holder”),[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin firmarius, from firma (“fixed payment”) (see farm).[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who undertakes the collection of taxes or revenues for a fixed sum: about 1385 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

A bailiff or steward who cultivated land for its owner is from 1382, and a lessee in general from 1523, both obsolete.[6][5] One who rents land to cultivate, a tenant farmer, is from 1487,[6] and in the agricultural sense generally, replacing native churl and husbandman, it is from the 1590s.[2] The lessee of a government monopoly is from 1662.[6] A separate, obsolete farmer (about 1440), one who cleans, survives in gong-farmer, a cleaner of privies.[6]

Timeline

  • 1382 – a bailiff (obsolete).[6]
  • c. 1385 – a tax farmer.[6]
  • 1487 – a tenant farmer.[6]
  • 1590s – a cultivator of land.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person who owns or manages a farm.
  2. (historical) A person who collected taxes or other revenue in return for a fixed payment.

Word family

  • farmerlike
  • farmer-general
  • farmerette
  • profarmer
  • underfarmer
  • dirt farmer
  • farmer cheese
  • farmer in the dell

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Farmer.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/farmer. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·