servile

English

Etymology

From Middle English servyle, from Old French servil, servile, from Latin servīlis, from servus (“slave”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜː(ɹ)ˌvaɪl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsəɹ.vəl/, /ˈsəɹˌvaɪl/

Adjective

servile (comparative more servile, superlative most servile)

1. Excessively eager to please; obsequious.
   • 2021, Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian‎^[1]:

     British “subjects” (not citizens, note) are just that: gleefully servile to the monarchy’s institutionalised inequality...

2. Slavish or submissive.

   Synonym: abject

   Antonyms: arrogant, authoritarian

   servile flattery    servile obedience

   1. Of or pertaining to a slave.
   • c. 1699 – 1703, Alexander Pope, “The First Book of Statius His Thebais”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:

     Even fortune rules no more, O servile land!

3. (grammar) Not belonging to the original root.

   a servile letter

4. (grammar) Not sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceding vowel, like the e in tune.

Derived terms

• servility

Related terms

• serve
• servant
• slave

Translations

of or pertaining to a slave

• Bulgarian: робски (bg) (robski)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: orja- (fi)
• French: servile (fr)
• Galician: servil m or f
• German: sklavisch
• Japanese: 奴隷の (ja) (dorei no)
• Middle English: servyle
• Portuguese: servil (pt)
• Romanian: servil (ro) m or n, slugarnic (ro)
• Russian: ра́бский (ru) (rábskij)
• Spanish: servil (es)
• Swedish: slav-

slavish or submissive

• Armenian:

  Old Armenian: ցած (cʻac)

• Bulgarian: сервилен (bg) (servilen), раболепен (bg) (rabolepen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 低三下四 (zh) (dīsānxiàsì)

• Finnish: alamainen (fi), orjallinen (fi), orjamainen (fi)
• Galician: servil m or f
• German: sklavisch, unterwürfig, servil (de), hündisch
• Greek: δουλικός (el) (doulikós)
• Irish: moghach, uiríseal
• Italian: servile (it), adulatore (it) m, leccapiedi (it)
• Japanese: 卑屈な (ja) (hikutsu na)
• Latin: humilis, obnoxius, vernīlis
• Middle English: serviable, servisable
• Plautdietsch: dommbleed
• Polish: lokajski (pl), niewolniczy (pl), uniżony
• Portuguese: servil (pt)
• Russian: подобостра́стный (ru) (podobostrástnyj), раболе́пный (ru) (rabolépnyj), холо́пский (ru) (xolópskij)
• Spanish: servil (es)
• Swedish: servil (sv), devot (sv), fjäskig (sv), underdånig (sv)

Noun

servile (plural serviles)

1. (grammar) An element which forms no part of the original root.
2. A slave; a menial.

Antonyms

• radical

Anagrams

• leviers, relives, reviles, veilers

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin servīlis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.vil/

Adjective

servile (plural serviles)

1. servile, slavish, subservient

Related terms

• serf
• servilement
• servilité
• servir

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• leviers, lièvres, livrées

Italian

Etymology

From Latin servīlis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /serˈvi.le/
• Rhymes: -ile
• Hyphenation: ser‧vì‧le

Adjective

servile (plural servili)

1. servile

Derived terms

• servilmente

Related terms

• servire
• servitù
• servo

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /serˈu̯iː.le/, [s̠ɛrˈu̯iːɫ̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /serˈvi.le/, [serˈviːle]

Adjective

servīle

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of servīlis

See also

• servīliter

Middle English

Adjective

servile

1. Alternative form of servyle

Spanish

Verb

servile

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of servir combined with le