peon
1 a Spanish-American day laborer or unskilled farm worker.
• historical a debtor held in servitude by a creditor, esp. in the southern U.S. and Mexico.
• a person who does menial work; a drudge
2 (in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia) someone of low rank.
• a foot soldier.
• an attendant or messenger.
• a person who does minor jobs in an office.
ORIGIN from Portuguese peão and Spanish peón, from medieval Latin pedo, pedon- ‘walker, foot soldier,’ from Latin pes, ped- ‘foot.’ Compare with pawn.
serf
an agricultural laborer bound under the feudal system to work on his lord's estate.
ORIGIN late 15th cent.(in the sense [slave] ): from Old French, from Latin servus ‘slave.’
I think it depends on which you are.
peon
1 a Spanish-American day laborer or unskilled farm worker.
• historical a debtor held in servitude by a creditor, esp. in the southern U.S. and Mexico.
• a person who does menial work; a drudge
2 (in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia) someone of low rank.
• a foot soldier.
• an attendant or messenger.
• a person who does minor jobs in an office.
ORIGIN from Portuguese peão and Spanish peón, from medieval Latin pedo, pedon- ‘walker, foot soldier,’ from Latin pes, ped- ‘foot.’ Compare with pawn.
serf
an agricultural laborer bound under the feudal system to work on his lord's estate.
ORIGIN late 15th cent.(in the sense [slave] ): from Old French, from Latin servus ‘slave.’
(from the American Oxford Dictionary)
Serfs are drier.