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Definition: Serf |
SerfNoun1. (medieval Europe) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "serf" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Etymology: Serf \Serf\, noun. [French expression, from the Latin expression serus servant, slave; akin to servare to protect, preserve, observe, and perhaps originally, client, man under one's protection. Compare to Serve, transitive verb]. (Websters 1913) |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
SERF | English | Sandia Engineering Reactor Facility | N/A |
SERF | Swedish | Programmeringsspråk SERF | Computing |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Serfs provided most of the labor in feudal society. Most European countries ended the practice of serfdom in the Middle Ages, but Russia retained the practice until February 19, 1861. Parts of Europe, including much of Scandinavia, never adopted feudal instutions, including serfdom.
Nowadays, serf is more commonly used in context with Microsoft, namely Microserf. This is clearly an anti-Microsoft term, used by individuals who are opposed to the business tactics of Microsoft Inc. The noun Microserf is synonymous with someone who is who voluntary becoming an user of any Microsoft product that uses Activation Wizard technology. This term was coined by Paul Lutus, a scientist/inventor/programmer/jack-of-all-trades.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Serf."
Synonyms: SerfSynonyms: helot (n), villein (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Commonalty | Peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl; villain, villein; terrae filius; serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah; longshoreman; swain, clown, hind; clod, clodhopper; hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin; plowman, plowboy; rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil; hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling; gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling; gamin; rough; pot-wallopper, slubberdegullion; vulgar fellow, low fellow; cad, curmudgeon. |
Servant | Serf, vassal, slave, negro, helot; bondsman, bondswoman; bondslave; ame damnee, odalisque, ryot, adscriptus gleboe; villian, villein; beadsman, bedesman; sizar; pensioner, pensionary; client; dependant, dependent; hanger on, satellite; parasite; (servility); led captain; protege, ward, hireling, mercenary, puppet, tool, creature. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Serf |
| English words defined with "serf": freeman, freewoman ♦ Neife ♦ serfdom, serfhood, slave trader ♦ vassalage, villainage, Villanage, villeinage. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "serf": Colliberts ♦ Ezzelin. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Serf" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (serf, villein), Turkish (serf). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Tongue Twisters | Sheath thy sword, the surly sheriff said, "or surely shall a churlish serf soon shatter thee. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | The serf, in the period of serfdom, raised himself to membership in the commune, just as the petty bourgeois, under the yoke of feudal absolutism, managed to develop into a bourgeois. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Serf" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 84.00% of the time. "Serf" is used about 50 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 84% | 42 | 52,864 |
| Noun (proper) | 10% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 4% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 2% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 50 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| France | Societe d'Etudes de Recherches et de Fabrication - SERF |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "serf": serf-based, serf-like, serf-owner, serf-owners, serf-owning. | |
Containing "serf": ex-serf-owning, non-serf-owning. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
serf | 67 |
medieval serf | 14 |
life serf | 7 |
age middle serf | 7 |
night serf | 6 |
age middle picture serf | 5 |
feudal serf | 4 |
city download serf | 4 |
feudalism serf | 3 |
russian serf | 3 |
medieval picture serf | 3 |
age in middle serf | 3 |
city serf | 3 |
picture serf | 3 |
monique serf | 3 |
emancipation serf | 2 |
medieval serf times | 2 |
empire noble serf | 2 |
serf u | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "serf"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | skllav (bondman, bondservant, bondslave, helot, slave, thrall), rob (bondman, captive, cove, prisoner, Rob, slave), bujkrob (bondsman, villein). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | عبد الأرض, القن عبد الأرض, التابع (client, dependent, man, subject, subordinate, vassal). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | роб (addict, bondservant, bondslave, bondsman, chattel, galley slave, helot, mameluke, predial, slave, thrall, vassal), крепостник (bondman, bondservant, bondsman, helot, predial), крепостен селянин (villein), отрок (babe, infant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 農奴 , 农奴. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | nevolník (bondman, bondsman, villein). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | Sankyo easy robot formula (Sankyo easy robot formula), robotprogrammeringssprog SERF (Sankyo easy robot formula). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | horige (villain). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | servutulo (villain), servitulo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | زارع بی زمین وفقیر, برده (Bondsman, Slave). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | robotin ohjelmointikieli SERF (Sankyo easy robot formula). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | serve (serves), serf, langage SERF. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Leibeigene (bondsman, bondswoman, chattel, thrall, villein). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | γλώσσα SERF (Sankyo easy robot formula), δουλοπάροικοσ (feudatory, villein). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | עבד (bondsman, servant, servitor, slave, thrall). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | rabszolga (bondslave, maroon, slave, slavish, thrall), jobbágy (bondman, bondservant, bondsman, carl, thrall, villein). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | budak belian (bondman, bondwoman). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | servo della gleba (bondman), linguaggio SERF (Sankyo easy robot formula). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 農奴 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | のうど (brightness, concentration). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 농노 (BONDSMAN, Bondsmen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | serfagh, deyr (costly, dear, expensive, unfree, valuable). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | erfsay servo (bondman, bondservant, bondslave, help, menial, servant, slave, thrall, vassal, villain), escravo (bond, bondman, bondservant, bondslave, helot, mamma, minion, slave, thrall, vassal, villain). (various references) serv (slave), sclav (bondman, creature, hack, slave, thrall), vecin (neighbor, neighboring, neighbour, neighbouring, next, next door), şerb (bondsman, Carl, thrall, villain). (various references) крепостной (bond, bondman, chattel, villein). (various references) kmetski (bond), kmet (bondservant, peon, thrall). (various references) siervo. (various references) träl (bondservant, bondsman, slave, thrall, villain, villein), livegen (bondslave, in serfdom, serfs, villein). (various references) ทาสติดที่ดิน. (various references) serf, ortaçağ köylüsü (villain, villein), köle (bond slave, bondman, bondslave, bondsman, chattel, chattel slave, contraband, drudge, helot, mameluke, man friday, minion, servile, slave, thrall), derebeylik kölesi. (various references) раб (chattel, helot, slave, thrall), кріпак (bondman, chattel, villein). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | dumu-dab. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | ambactus, cliens, servus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "serf": serfage, serfages, serfdom, serfdoms, serfhood, serfhoods, serfish, serflike, serfs. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "serf": enserf. (additional references) | |
Words containing "serf": enserfed, enserfing, enserfment, enserfments, enserfs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Serf" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cyrff, Esrf, ferf, merf, sarf, sder, sdr, seaf, seef, seerg, sef, Sefra, segr, sehr, seraf, serd, serfy, serg, serh, seri, serk, serl, sern, sernf, sero, serp, serq, Serr, sert, serv, sery, Seyfi, sirf, sirv, sjer, sqer, sre, sreb, srec, sref, sreg, srei, srek, sreo, srer, sret, sreu, ssr, sxer, szer, terf, Werff, zef, zerf, zert, zirf. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "serf" (pronounced ser"f) |
| 3 | s er" f | surf. |
| 2 | -er" f | turf. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: refs. | |
| Words within the letters "e-f-r-s" | |
-1 letter: efs, ers, fer, ref, res, ser. | |
-2 letters: ef, er, es, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-f-r-s" | |
+1 letter: fares, fears, feres, ferns, fires, fores, frees, fresh, frets, fries, frise, froes, kerfs, reefs, reifs, safer, serfs, serif. | |
+2 letters: afresh, afters, briefs, defers, enserf, facers, faders, fakers, falser, farces, farers, farles, faster, femurs, ferias, fermis, fester, fetors, feuars, fevers, fibers, fibres, fifers, filers, firers, fisher, fivers, fixers, flares, fleers, fliers, flyers, forces, forest, forges, formes, fortes, foster, foyers, fraise, frames, freaks, freers, freest, freres, fresco, friers, frisee, frises, frizes, fryers, fumers, furies, furzes, fusser, gofers, griefs, infers, kefirs, lifers, offers, refels, refers, refits, refuse, resift, rifest, rifles, ruffes, serifs, sherif, sifter, softer, strafe, strife, suffer, surfed, surfer, wafers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 65 72 66 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... . .-. ..-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "serf" |
