fellah
1
9.9
A farm worker in Arab countries such as Egypt
- noun
- /ˈfɛlɑː/
:
fellah
- The annual festival celebrated the contributions of the fellah to the community's agriculture.
Examples
-
These were followed by lesser tribes, with the fellah at the bottom of the social scale.
Academic text (1999) -
The Egyptian fellah, or peasant, was said to be particularly prone to submissiveness and fatalism, a disposition that observers used to explain the continued oppression of Egyptians and their supposed aversion to revolt.
Academic text (2009) -
The fellah worked hard in the fields to harvest the crops for his family.
-
As a fellah, he knew the land well and understood the traditional farming techniques.
Surface Forms
Etymology
Fellah comes from the Arabic word fellāḥ meaning 'ploughman' or 'tiller', a name used for peasants in places like Egypt and Syria. So a fellah today means a rural farm worker who works the land, like someone who 'tills' the soil.