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chattel
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Etymology
From Middle English chatel, from Old French chatel, from Medieval Latin capitāle (English capital), from Latin capitālis (“of the head”), from caput (“head”) + -alis (“-al”). Compare the doublet cattle (“cows”), which is from an Anglo-Norman variant. Compare also capital and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”.
Pronunciation
Noun
chattel (plural chattels)
- Tangible, movable property.
- 1990, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, Corgi, page 387:
- […] although of course the firm had changed hands many times over the centuries, […] But the box has always been part of the chattels, as it were.
- A slave.
- 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring [Book 2, Chapter 1 - Many Meetings]
- Not all his servants and chattels are wraiths!
- 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring [Book 2, Chapter 1 - Many Meetings]
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
tangible, movable property
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slave
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