Definition

1. Noun:
   • Ploughman: A person whose occupation is to plough fields, typically using a plough drawn by animals such as oxen or buffaloes. This is the primary and traditional meaning.
   • Farm laborer / Field worker: More broadly, it can refer to a manual laborer working in agriculture, specifically in tilling the soil.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Người thợ cày ấy đã làm việc trên cánh đồng cả đời. (That ploughman has worked in the fields his whole life.)
  • Công việc của một thợ cày rất vất vả. (The work of a ploughman is very hard.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "thợ cày" evokes traditional, pre-mechanized agriculture. In modern contexts, it may be used metaphorically or historically.
  • Trong thơ ca, hình ảnh thợ cày tượng trưng cho sự cần cù. (In poetry, the image of the ploughman symbolizes diligence.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cày (v): to plough.
  • Bác nông dân đang cày ruộng. (The farmer is ploughing the field.)
• Thợ cấy (n): transplanting laborer (a person who transplants rice seedlings).
• Nông dân (n): farmer (a more general term).

Synonyms

• Ploughman
• Plowman (American English spelling)
• Tiller
• Field hand

Related Idioms

• Cày như trâu: to work like an ox; to work extremely hard without rest.
  • Anh ấy làm việc cày như trâu để nuôi gia đình. (He works like an ox to support his family.)
• Đầu trâu mặt ngựa: (literally "buffalo head, horse face") a rude idiom describing someone with a fierce, ugly, or cruel appearance. While not containing "thợ cày", it shares the agricultural animal imagery.