chattel

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 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

Adjective

chattel (comparative more chattel, superlative most chattel)

  1. Commonly used to describe the treatment of Russian serfs as property.

Noun

chattel (plural chattels)

  1. Tangible, movable property.
    • 1990, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, Corgi, p.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.
  2. A slave.

Related terms

Translations

tangible, movable property
slave

See also

Anagrams

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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 02:11