Servant

//ˈsɜːvənt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who is hired to perform regular household or other duties, and receives compensation. As opposed to a slave.

    "There are three servants in the household, the butler and two maids."

  2. 2
    a person working in the service of another (especially in the household) wordnet
  3. 3
    One who serves another, providing help in some manner.

    "She is quite the humble servant, the poor in this city owe much to her but she expects nothing."

  4. 4
    in a subordinate position wordnet
  5. 5
    A person who dedicates themselves to God.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    A professed lover. obsolete
  2. 7
    A person of low condition or spirit.
Verb
  1. 1
    To subject. obsolete, transitive

    "Wife, Mother, Child, I know not. My affaires Are Seruanted to others[…]"

Synonyms

All synonyms
handmaidacolyteadherentadjutantagentaid

Example

More examples

"Money is a good servant, but a bad master."

Etymology

From Middle English servaunt, from Old French servant, from the present participle of the verb servir. Doublet of sergeant and servient. Morphologically serve + -ant. Displaced native Old English þeġn.

Related phrases

assigned servantbody servantcaptain's servantcivil servantcovenanted servantdomestic servanteven-servanteye-servantfellow servantindentured servantmaid-servantpublic servant

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