Meaning
A farmer or tiller of the soil.
Etymology
Origin: Arabic
17th century. From Hindi रैयत (raiyat, “peasant”), from Urdu رعیت (ra'iyat, “peasant”), from Classical Persian رَعِیَّت (ra'iyyat, “population, peasants”), from Arabic رَعِيَّة (raʕiyya, “flock, herd”).
NYT Puzzle Appearances
No published puzzle dates on file for this word yet. It is part of the official NYT Spelling Bee word list for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026.