Meaning & use

serf

noun·Academic

A laborer in medieval Europe who was bound to work on a lord's land and could not leave without permission.

See it in a sentence

The serf owed a portion of his harvest to the lord in exchange for protection and a plot of land.

Unlike a slave, a serf could not be sold separately from the land he worked.

A note on using this word

A serf differed from a slave in owning some personal property, but resembled one in lacking freedom to leave the land.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

lord

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