Meaning

origin17th century. From Hindi रैयत (raiyat, “peasant”), from Urdu رعیت (ra'iyat, “peasant”), from Classical Persian رَعِیَّت (ra'iyyat, “population, peasants”), from Arabic رَعِيَّة (raʕiyya, “flock, herd”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0