peonage
English
Etymology
From peon + -age.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpiːənɪdʒ/
Noun
peonage (plural peonages)
- The state of being a peon; the system of paying back debt through servitude and labour; loosely, any system of involuntary servitude.
- 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 217:
- 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.
- 2014, Michael Nava, The City of Palaces, Terrace Books 2014, p. 191:
- "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."
- 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 217:
Related terms
peonage slavery on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Translations
the state of being a peon
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Further reading
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “peonage”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.