serf

English

Etymology

From Middle English serf, from Old French serf, from Latin servus (“slave, serf, servant”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɜːf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /sɝf/
• Homophone: surf (fern–fir–fur merger)
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)f

Noun

serf (plural serfs)

1. A partially free peasant of a low hereditary class, attached like a slave to the land owned by a feudal lord and required to perform labour, enjoying minimal legal or customary rights.

   Synonym: helot

2. A similar agricultural labourer in 18th and 19th century Europe.
3. (strategy games) A worker unit.

   Synonyms: peasant, peon, villager

Derived terms

• serfage
• serfdom
• serfhood
• serfish
• serfism

Related terms

• service
• servile
• servitor
• servitude
• servo

Translations

semifree peasant

Albanian: shërbëtor (sq), rëmër Arabic: قِنّ m (qinn) Armenian: ճորտ (hy) (čort) Belarusian: прыго́нны m (pryhónny), прыго́нная f (pryhónnaja) Bulgarian: кре́постник m (krépostnik), кре́постничка f (krépostnička), кре́постен се́лянин m (kréposten séljanin) Burmese: မြေကျွန် (my) (mre-kywan) Catalan: serf (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 農奴 / 农奴 (zh) (nóngnú) Czech: nevolník (cs) m Danish: livegen c Dutch: horige (nl), laat (nl), lijfeigene (nl), serf m or f Erzya: модаре m (modare), модарява f (modaŕava) Estonian: pärisori Finnish: maaorja (fi) French: serf (fr) m Galician: servo m Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Leibeigener (de) m Greek: δουλοπάροικος (el) m (doulopároikos), (historical) κολλίγας m (kollígas) Ancient: θής m (thḗs), θῆσσα f (thêssa) Hebrew: צמית (he) m (tsamit), אריס (he) m (aris) Hungarian: jobbágy (hu) Ingrian: krepostnoi Irish: seirfeach m, daoirseach m, daor m (familiar) Old Irish: dóer m Italian: servo della gleba m Japanese: 農奴 (ja) (のうど, nōdo), 小作人 (ja) (こさくにん, kosakunin) Korean: 농노(農奴) (ko) (nongno) Latin: colōnus (Medieval Latin) Macedonian: кмет m (kmet), закре́постен се́ланец m (zakréposten sélanec), кре́посен се́ланец m (kréposen sélanec) Maori: rōpā, poroteke Middle English: servaunt Norwegian: Bokmål: leilending m, livegen Nynorsk: leiglending m, liveigen Occitan: sèrf (oc) m Polish: chłop pańszczyźniany m, kmieć (pl) m Portuguese: servo (pt) m Romanian: iobag (ro) m, șerb (ro) m Russian: крепостно́й (ru) m (krepostnój), крепостна́я (ru) f (krepostnája), холо́п (ru) m (xolóp) (also pejorative) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: кме̏т m, кмѐтица f Roman: kmȅt (sh) m, kmètica (sh) f Slovak: nevoľník m Slovene: tlačan m Spanish: siervo (es) m Swedish: livegen (sv) Tatar: кол (tt) (qol) Thai: ไพร่ (th) (prâi), ข้าไพร่ Tibetan: མངའ་འབངས (mnga' 'bangs), མངའ་ཞབས (mnga' zhabs), དུད་ཆང (dud chang), བྲན (bran), བྲན་གཡོག (bran g.yog), འབངས་འཁོར ('bangs 'khor), མི་སེར (mi ser) Ukrainian: кріпосни́й m (kriposnýj), кріпосна́ f (kriposná), кріпа́к (uk) m (kripák) Vietnamese: nông nô (vi) (農奴) Welsh: taeog

See also

• slave

Anagrams

• ESRF, FERS, RFEs, Refs, erfs, refs

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin servus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈserf]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈseɾf]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

serf m (plural serfs, feminine serva, feminine plural serves)

1. serf

Related terms

• servitud

Further reading

• “serf”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch serf, from Old French serf, from Latin servus.

Noun

serf m (plural serven, diminutive serfje n)

1. a serf (semifree peasant obliged to remain on the lord's land and to perform extensive chores for him)

   Synonyms: halfvrije, horige, laat, lijfeigene

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French serf, from Old French serf, from Latin servus (“slave, serf, servant”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo- (“guardian”), or perhaps of Etruscan origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (usually) /sɛʁf/, (rarely) /sɛʁ/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Homophones: serfs (general), cerf, cerfs (some speakers), serre, serrent, serres, sers, sert (rare form only)

Noun

serf m (plural serfs, feminine serve)

1. a serf (semifree peasant obliged to remain on the lord's land and to perform extensive chores for him)

Adjective

serf (feminine serve, masculine plural serfs, feminine plural serves)

1. being or like a serf, semifree

Related terms

• sergent
• servant
• service m
• servile
• servir (verb)
• servitude

Further reading

• “serf”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• fers

Mauritian Creole

Etymology

From French cerf.

Noun

serf

1. deer

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French serf.

Noun

serf m (plural serfs)

1. serf (semifree peasant)

Descendants

• French: serf

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

From Arabic صرف (ṣarf, “expense”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛɾf/

Noun

serf f

1. expense, cost

Old French

Etymology 1

From Latin servus.

Noun

serf oblique singular, m (oblique plural sers, nominative singular sers, nominative plural serf)

1. serf (semifree peasant)

Descendants

• Middle French: serf
  • French: serf
• → English: serf

Etymology 2

See servir

Verb

serf

1. first-person singular present indicative of servir

Seychellois Creole

Etymology

From French cerf.

Noun

serf

1. deer

References

• Danielle D’Offay et Guy Lionnet, Diksyonner Kreol - Franse / Dictionnaire Créole Seychellois - Français