peon

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
peon /ˈpiːən/

▶noun

• 1 also /peɪˈɒn/ a Spanish-American day labourer or unskilled farm worker.

  ■ N. Amer. a person who does menial work.

• 2 also /pjuːn/ (in the Indian subcontinent and SE Asia) someone of low rank.

• 3 (pl. peones /peɪˈəʊneɪz/) another term for banderillero.

– derivatives
peonage noun.

– origin from Port. peão and Sp. peón, from med. L. pedo, pedon- ‘walker, foot soldier’; cf. pawn1.