Dictionary

peonage en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpiːənɪdʒ/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English peon Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Old French -agebor. Middle English -age English -age English peonage From peon + -age.

Meanings

1. The state of being a peon; the system of paying back debt through servitude and labour; loosely, any system of involuntary servitude.
   • "It wasn't just the crowds," Luis said softly. "I saw with my own eyes that Díaz's México is a Potemkin village, Miguel. The México profundo where the poor are so hungry they eat grass and bark. I met Indians whose land is being devoured by Díaz's cronies, entire towns swallowed up, and the people reduced to peonage. I talked to Mexican railroad workers who are paid a fraction of what the American owners pay their own countrymen for the same work." 2014, Michael Nava, The City of Palaces, Terrace Books, page 191:
   • But there was work to be done down in the Salinas Valley where César Chávez was organizing the grape pickers and lettuce workers out of their state of un-unionized peonage. 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 217:

Forms

Deriveds

antipeonage

Translations (2)

pt peonagem (the state of being a peon) · pl peonaż (the state of being a peon)