service

service · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*ser-der.?
2. Proto-Italic*serwos
3. Latinservus
4. Latinservitium
5. Old Frenchservise
6. Old Englishserfis
7. Middle Englishservise
8. English todayservice

From Middle English servise, from Old English serfis, from Old French servise (French service), from the verb servir, from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus (“servant; serf; slave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo-s (“guardian”), possibly from *ser- (“watch over, protect”). Displaced native Old English þeġnung.

service · noun²

1. Latin · derived fromsorbus“service tree”
2. Vulgar Latin · derived from*sorbea
3. Old English · inherited fromsyrfe
4. Middle English · inherited fromserves
5. English todayservice

Properly, the tree that bears sorb fruit, from Middle English serves, plural of serve (“sorb apple, serviceberry”), from Old English syrfe, from Vulgar Latin *sorbea, from Latin sorbus (“service tree”). See sorb.

Words from the same roots