Cane cutta

noun kien-KOT-a

Also spelled cane cutter

A cane cutter — the labourer who cuts sugar cane by hand in the fields with a machete, bending through long hot days in crop time. It is among the hardest, lowest-paid plantation work, tied deep into Jamaica's sugar history and the estates of parishes like Trelawny and Westmoreland. The word carries the memory of that back-breaking estate labour.

  • Him fada did a cane cutta a di estate.

    His father was a cane cutter on the estate.

  • Cane cutta work haad inna crop time.

    Cane cutters work hard during crop time.

  • Dem sharpen di machete fi cut cane.

    They sharpen the machete to cut cane.

English 'cane cutter' in Patois form. See [[sugar-cane]], [[machete]].

Hand labourer cutting sugar cane; bound to Jamaica's plantation history.