sharecropper

noun

1. a tenant farmer who pays as rent a share of the crop.

noun

1. mainly US a farmer, esp a tenant farmer, who pays over a proportion of a crop or crops as rent

n.also share-cropper, 1887, in a U.S. Southern context; from share + agent noun from crop (v.). Share-crop system attested from 1871. As a verb, share-crop is recorded by 1867. Sharecropping attested by 1936.