A person hired to do manual labor on a farm, especially one who works with crops or animals.
Compound of 'farm' (from Old English 'feorm' meaning provisions) and 'hand' (from Proto-Germanic '*handuz'). The term became standard in the 18th century as agricultural labor became more formalized.
The word 'farmhand' reveals class history—it doesn't say 'brain worker' or 'skilled specialist,' just 'hand,' reducing a person to their labor function, much like how medieval documents referred to workers by what their bodies did rather than who they were.
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