farmhand; tenant farmer
Historical term for a male agricultural laborer or tenant farmer, especially in pre-modern Japan. Not used for modern farm workers.
In the Edo period, farmhands worked on the landlord's fields.
Compound of 作 (saku, 'cultivation; harvest') and 男 (otoko, 'man'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word has been used since at least the Edo period to refer to male agricultural laborers.