raiyat

English

Alternative forms

• raiat, ryot

Etymology

Borrowed from Urdu رَعِیَّت (ra'iyat, “peasant”), from Classical Persian رعیت (ra'iyyat, “peasants; population”), from Arabic رَعِيَّة (raʕiyya, “flock, herd”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪət/
• Hyphenation: rai‧yat

Noun

raiyat (plural raiyats or raiyat)

1. 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.