mujik
1
9.9
A poor farmer in Russia before 1917 who worked for a landowner
- noun
- /ˈmuːdʒɪk/
- Archaic
:
mujik
- The mujik worked tirelessly in the fields from dawn until dusk, reflecting the struggles of rural life in Russia.
Examples
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Did they—Lenin, Trotsky, Reed, all the others—see that stand of trees, focus on that bend of river, look at that field and think it is a Russian field worked with the wooden ploughs of mujiks for a thousand years?
Fiction book (2002) -
Many mujiks relied on their traditional knowledge of farming to sustain their families before the Revolution.
-
Before the 1917 Revolution, a mujik's life was often marked by hardship and the demands of the land.
Synonyms
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word mujik comes from the Russian word muzhik, which comes from muzh meaning 'man', like the English word 'man'. It was used for ordinary country men in old Russia, so mujik means a Russian peasant, especially before the 1917 Revolution.