Serf

//sɝf// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 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.

    "See how the serfs work the ground / And they give it all they’ve got"

  2. 2
    (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord wordnet
  3. 3
    A similar agricultural labourer in 18th and 19th century Europe.
  4. 4
    A worker unit.

Synonyms

All synonyms
helotapple polisherapple-polisherass-lickerbackscratcherbackslapper

Example

More examples

"At the same time you must consider that I am only a serf on this estate: that I am owner of nothing here. It is necessary therefore, that my master should be made acquainted with the business, and that we should have his consent."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

almost slavefeudal lord

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