campesino o granjero

Question

Would it be polite to refer to a farmer as "un campesino" which also means "peasant"?

Good question mate, we need a Spanish native for a definitive answer to this one. Hang in there until one moseys along. - ray76, Aug 6, 2014

I'll vote the question-it is a good one. - pacofinkler, Aug 6, 2014

Answer 1

As I see it, Campesino can of course be a farmer- but for us in the north of Mexico we see it as a country person-not a negative by the way -- a rustic-or even as the pejorative -peasant. Granjero ,onthe other hand is clearly a farmer or farm worker in all areas having to do with agriculture.

Answer 2

I'm not a native speaker, but as far as I can make it out both words are more or less synonyms when referring to a farmer, but whereas campesino refers to the land, the fields, the countryside (el campo), granjero refers to the farm, la granja. Buth neither of them has quite the same negative connotation that the English 'peasant' sometimes has.

As in the title of a very ( and rightly) famous Spanish novela, Réquiem por un campesino español by Ramón J. Sender.

Possibly the most boring book I've ever tried to read, I gave up. - annierats, Aug 6, 2014

Answer 3

Campesino is fine, no negative implication, used a lot for ' rural person', or countryperson, farmer or not.

is fine but sometimes has a negative connotation among young people :) - 003e54f5, Aug 6, 2014