佃

diàn, tián

亻 + 田

Definitions

diàn to rent farmland from a landlord

tián to cultivate; to hunt

Etymology

Depicts a person (亻) working in the fields (田). 田 also represents the sound.

About

The character 佃 is a phono-semantic compound. Its semantic radical, 亻 (person), on the left indicates a human occupation, while the phonetic component 田 (field) on the right also contributes to the meaning by referencing farmland. Its original sense related to cultivating land. As agricultural economies developed, the primary meaning shifted to denote a tenant farmer, someone who rents land from a landlord, and the character also functions as a verb meaning to lease such land for cultivation.

Etymology Hide

Bronze Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

这个佃农很勤劳。

Zhè ge diàn nóng hěn qín láo.

This tenant farmer is very hardworking.

从前有很多佃户。

Cóng qián yǒu hěn duō diàn hù.

There were many tenant farmers in the past.

佃户们租种地主的土地。

Diàn hù men zū zhòng dì zhǔ de tǔ dì.

The tenant farmers rent and cultivate the landlord's land.

在旧社会，佃农生活很苦。

Zài jiù shè huì, diàn nóng shēng huó hěn kǔ.

In the old society, tenant farmers lived a very hard life.

爷爷年轻时曾当过佃农。

Yé ye nián qīng shí céng dāng guò diàn nóng.

My grandfather once worked as a tenant farmer when he was young.

尽管佃户辛勤劳作，收入却很少。

Jǐn guǎn diàn hù xīn qín láo zuò, shōu rù què hěn shǎo.

Although tenant farmers work diligently, their income is very low.

由于地主剥削，佃农们经常挨饿。

Yóu yú dì zhǔ bō xuē, diàn nóng men jīng cháng ái è.

Due to landlord exploitation, tenant farmers often went hungry.

在封建制度下，佃户不仅要把大部分收成交给地主，还要承担各种劳役。

Zài fēng jiàn zhì dù xià, diàn hù bù jǐn yào bǎ dà bù fèn shōu chéng jiāo gěi dì zhǔ, hái yào chéng dān gè zhǒng láo yì.

Under the feudal system, tenant farmers not only had to hand over most of their harvest to the landlord, but also had to undertake various forms of corvée labor.

Related Characters

Component: 亻

Component: 田