Fellah
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A peasant, farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa.
"Religion long kept the two races, Arab and Egyptian, apart, and when eventually the Christian fellaḥ in the neighbourhood of Cairo had become Mohammedan, the Mohammedan Arab had become a townsman with a townsman’s sense of superiority over the country bumpkin."
- 2 Alternative spelling of fella. alt-of, alternative
- 3 an agricultural laborer in Arab countries wordnet
Example
More examples"Religion long kept the two races, Arab and Egyptian, apart, and when eventually the Christian fellaḥ in the neighbourhood of Cairo had become Mohammedan, the Mohammedan Arab had become a townsman with a townsman’s sense of superiority over the country bumpkin."
Etymology
Borrowed from Arabic فَلَّاح (fallāḥ, “peasant”), from Classical Syriac ܦܠܚܐ (“worker; peasant”). Attested since 1743.
Representing an eye dialect pronunciation of fellow.
Related phrases
More for "fellah"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.