noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A woman born in the state of serfdom; a female serf. historical

   "Neifs indeed had also an appeal of rape, in case the lord violated them by force"

2. 2
   Alternative spelling of nief (“fist”). alt-of, alternative

Synonyms

All synonyms

farmer

Example

More examples

"Neifs indeed had also an appeal of rape, in case the lord violated them by force"

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman neif m, niefe f (“native, serf”), from Latin nātīvus m, nātīva f (“native”). Doublet of naïf and native.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.