serf
pronunciation
How to pronounce serf in British English:
UK [sɜ:f]
How to pronounce serf in American English:
US [sɜrf]
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- Noun:
- (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord
Word Origin
- serf (n.)
- late 15c., "servant, serving-man, slave," from Old French serf "vassal, servant, slave" (12c.), from Latin servum (nominative servus) "slave" (see serve). Fallen from use in original sense by 18c. Meaning "lowest class of cultivators of the soil in continental European countries" is from 1610s. Use by modern writers with reference to medieval Europeans first recorded 1761 (contemporary Anglo-Latin records used nativus, villanus, or servus).
Example
- 1. The serf owner lashed the serf with a whip .
- 2. Through it all , an unwieldy caste system governed lord and serf alike .
- 3. This decentralized economic system relied on the legal immobility of the serf .
- 4. They laid the blame on the serf and beat him brutally .
- 5. The serf was trod to death .