yeo·man 
(yōmən)
(yōmən)n.
1.
a. An attendant, servant, or lesser official in a royal or noble household.
b. A yeoman of the guard.
2. A petty officer performing chiefly clerical duties in the US Navy.
3. An assistant or other subordinate, as of a sheriff.
4. A diligent, dependable worker.
5. A farmer who cultivates his own land, especially a member of a former class of small freeholders in England.
[Middle English yeman, yoman, perhaps contraction of yong man, young man (yong, young; see YOUNG + man, man; see MAN), or from Old English *gēaman (from or akin to Old Frisian gāman, villager : gā, region, district + man, man; see man-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots).]