field hand

noun

1. a person who works in the fields of a farm or plantation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of field hand¹

An Americanism dating back to 1820–30

Example Sentences

In the summer months, when the days were longer and there was more to be done, field hands worked fifteen to sixteen hours, six days a week.

From Literature

He said he had little trouble finding field hands, including migrants who move from farm to farm with each season.

From New York Times

“My first memory of her cooking her fried chicken was seeing my grandfather and the paid field hands walking up out of the tobacco fields midday hot and sweaty,” reads the submission.

From Washington Post

Bakersfield sees itself that way too, a place of battering and renewal; a town of Merle Haggard songs, passing trains and the muddy boots of field hands.

From Los Angeles Times

Her disdain for pretension, practiced by Black people in power, what Hurston called “bookooing,” is all over her essay about the NAACP, where she rants about the divide “between house servants and field hands.”

From Washington Post

Related Words

• agricultural laborer
• agricultural worker
• farm laborer
• farm worker