Etymology

servitude

serv·i·tude
S1E1R1V4I1T1U1D2E1

Today it means: The state of being a slave; slavery; being forced to work for others or do their bidding without one's consent or against one's will, either in perpetuity or for a period of time over which one has little or no control. Full definition →

Middle French servitude ← Latin servitūdō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromservus“slave”
  2. Latin · derived fromservitūdō
  3. Middle French · borrowed fromservitude
  4. English todayservitude

From Middle French servitude, from Latin servitūdō, from Latin servus (“slave”). Equivalent to serve + -itude.

Words from the same roots

Latinservitūdō all →

servitudinal

Latinservus all →

serveserfservomotorCuldeeservo-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.