Cottars were historically small tenants who lived on the land of a larger estate. Synonyms for the word cottars include crofters, peasants, smallholders, and tenant farmers. Crofters were Scottish farmers who held a small piece of rented land, while peasants were members of a class of people who worked the land and were considered of low social status. Smallholders were farmers who owned or rented a small plot of land, and tenant farmers were those who paid rent to a landlord or estate owner. While these terms have their own distinct histories and implications, they all describe people who lived and worked on the land, often in a subsistence capacity.