serf

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

(UK) IPA^(key): /sɜːf/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /sɝf/
Homophone: surf (in accents with the fern-fir-fur merger)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)f

NounEdit

serf (plural serfs)

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.
A similar agricultural labourer in 18th and 19th century Europe.
(strategy games) A worker unit.
Synonyms: peasant, peon, villager

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

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 m
Danish: livegen c
Dutch: horige (nl), laat (nl), lijfeigene (nl), serf m or f
Erzya: модаре m (modare), модарява f (modarjava)
Estonian: pärisori
Finnish: maaorja (fi)
French: serf (fr) m
Galician: servo m
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Leibeigener m
Greek: δουλοπάροικος (el) m (doulopároikos), (historical) κολλίγας m (kollígas)
Ancient: θής m (thḗs), θῆσσα f (thêssa)
Hebrew: צמית‎ (he) m (tsamit), אריס‎ m (aris)
Hungarian: jobbágy (hu)
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 (こさくにん, kosakunin)
Korean: 농노(農奴) (ko) (nongno)
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
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)
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

AnagramsEdit

ESRF, FERS, RFEs, Refs, erfs, refs

CatalanEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin servus.

PronunciationEdit

(Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈseɾf/
(Central) IPA^(key): /ˈserf/

NounEdit

serf m (plural serfs, feminine serva)

serf

Related termsEdit

servitud

DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

NounEdit

serf m (plural serven, diminutive serfje n)

a serf (semifree peasant obliged to remain on the lord's land and to perform extensive chores for him)
Synonyms: horige, laat, lijfeigene

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): (usually) /sɛʁf/, (rarely) /sɛʁ/
Audio (file)
Homophones: serfs (general), cerf, cerfs (some speakers), serre, serrent, serres, sers, sert (rare form only)