What does "socage" mean?

In the Middle Ages (and chiefly but not exclusively medieval England), a legal system whereby a tenant would pay a rent or do some agricultural work for the landlord.

What is a synonym for "socage"?

Common synonyms include: claim, colony, fee position, fee simple, feud, fiefdom.

Socage

//ˈsɒkɪd͡ʒ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
In the Middle Ages (and chiefly but not exclusively medieval England), a legal system whereby a tenant would pay a rent or do some agricultural work for the landlord. countable, historical, uncountable
"[…] this quiz with all the strange old terms in it, curtilage and messuage and socage and fee simple and fee tail and feoffee and copyhold and customary freehold and mortmain and devises and lex loci rei sitae."
2
land tenure by agricultural service or payment of rent; not burdened with military service wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

claim colony fee position fee simple feud fiefdom

Example

More examples

"[…] this quiz with all the strange old terms in it, curtilage and messuage and socage and fee simple and fee tail and feoffee and copyhold and customary freehold and mortmain and devises and lex loci rei sitae."

Etymology

From Middle English sokage, from Anglo-Norman socage, from Old French soc (“soke”), ultimately from Old English sōcn. By surface analysis, soke + -age.

Related phrases

middle ages

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