Etymology

serf

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Today it means: 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. Full definition →

Middle English serf ← Old French serf ← Latin servus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromservus“slave, serf, servant”
  2. Old French · derived fromserf
  3. Middle English · inherited fromserf
  4. English todayserf

From Middle English serf, from Old French serf, from Latin servus (“slave, serf, servant”).

Words from the same roots

Latinservus all →

serveservitudeservomotorCuldeeservo-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.