Meaning

noun officer in the (ceremonial) bodyguard of the British monarch

noun in former times was free and cultivated his own land

originFrom Middle English yeman, yoman, of disputed etymology: * From Old English *ġēamann, from Proto-West Germanic *gawamann, variant of *gauwjamann (compare Old Frisian gāman (“villager”), Middle High German göuman (“peasant”)), compound of Proto-West Germanic *gawi (“shire, district”) (compare Old English -ġē, -ġēa (“district, region”) (in ælġē, Sūþriġēa), West Frisian gea, goa, Dutch gouw, German…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0