serf

Meaning

Noun

• a partially free peasant of a low hereditary class, attached like a slave to the land owned by a feudal lord and required to perform labour, enjoying minimal legal or customary rights
• a similar agricultural labourer in 18th and 19th century Europe
• a worker unit

Origin

• From Middle English serf, from Old French serf, from Latin servus, perhaps of Etruscan origin