Archaic term for a low-ranking servant or attendant in historical contexts, performing tasks such as cleaning, running errands, or delivering messages. Not used in modern Japanese outside historical references.
In government offices of the Edo period, servants (使丁) delivered documents and did cleaning.
The exact derivation is uncertain; the kanji 使 (use, employ) and 丁 (adult male, servant) suggest a compound meaning 'employed servant' or 'worker'.