Meaning & use
serf
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Meanings
nouncountable
A farm worker in medieval Europe who was tied to the land and had to work for a lord.
Grammar: Countable; use 'a serf' or plural 'serfs'.
Patterns
- a serf on a lord's land
- a serf worked for a lord
Most people in the village were serfs who farmed the lord's fields.
A serf could not leave the land without the lord's permission.
The serf paid part of his harvest to the lord as rent.
nouncountablefigurative
A person who is treated like a slave or has very little freedom.
Grammar: Often used figuratively in modern writing.
Patterns
- a serf to something
- treated like a serf
Workers there are treated like serfs, with no rights at all.
He felt like a serf to his demanding boss.
Word forms
| plural | serfs |
|---|
Common combinations
- medieval serf
- The museum showed tools used by a medieval serf.
- serf labor
- The economy depended on serf labor.
- free a serf
- The new law freed every serf on the estate.
- serfdom
- Serfdom kept millions of people tied to the land.
Synonyms and how they differ
- peasant
- A peasant is a general word for a poor farm worker; a serf was specifically not free to leave the land.
- bondman
- An old word for a person in slavery or servitude; less specific than serf.
- villein
- A medieval tenant farmer who was legally tied to a lord; similar to a serf but with a different legal status.
Opposites
Word family
- serfdom noun
- The system in which serfs worked and were not free.
Commonly confused: serf or surf? serf or slave?
serf vs surf
Surf is the waves of the sea or the sport of riding them; serf is a medieval farm worker. They sound similar but are unrelated.
serf vs slave
A slave is owned as property and can be bought and sold; a serf was tied to the land but could own some property.
Practice
In medieval Europe, a serf was a farm worker who ______.
Choose one answer.
A serf was legally tied to the land and owed labor to a lord. The other options describe a slave or a free farmer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “serf”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.