Meaning

3 senses
  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.

    (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord

  2. A similar agricultural labourer in 18th and 19th century Europe.

  3. A worker unit.

    Leibeigener

    крепостно́йkrepostnój, крепостна́яkrepostnája, холо́пxolóp

    кріпосни́йkriposnýj, кріпосна́kriposná, кріпа́кkripák

Examples

5 sentences
  1. See how the serfs work the ground?

    CC BY · Tatoeba · NikiTricky · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  2. Do you see how the serfs work the ground?

    CC BY · Tatoeba · jan_Ketalija · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  3. I am a serf.

    ruЯ крепостной.

    deIch bin ein Leibeigener.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · megamanenm · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  4. I'm just a lowly serf.

    CC0 · Tatoeba · shekitten · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  5. The company basically treated its workers like serfs - controlling nearly every aspect of their lives.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Auride · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

8 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
semifree peasant:
Русский
By meaning 1
semifree peasant:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
semifree peasant:

Origin

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

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

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: serfs
Singularserf
Pluralserfs

regular

Synonyms

5 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord:helotvillein

Word family

16 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
serf — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto