Etymology

slavery

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Today it means: An institution or social practice of owning human beings as property, especially for use as forced laborers. Full definition →

English slave ← Middle English sclave ← Old French esclave
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slavery · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱlewH-der.?
  2. Proto-Slavic*slov-
  3. Proto-Slavic*Slov-?
  4. Proto-Slavic*slověninъ
  5. Ancient GreekΣκλαβηνός (Sklabēnós)
  6. Medieval GreekΣκλᾰ́βος (Sklắbos)
  7. Late LatinSclavus
  8. Medieval Latinsclavus
  9. Old Frenchesclave
  10. Middle Englishsclave
  11. Englishslave
  12. English todayslavery

From slave + -ery.

slavery · adjective2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱlewH-der.?
  2. Proto-Slavic*slov-
  3. Proto-Slavic*Slov-?
  4. Proto-Slavic*slověninъ
  5. Ancient GreekΣκλαβηνός (Sklabēnós)
  6. Medieval GreekΣκλᾰ́βος (Sklắbos)
  7. Late LatinSclavus
  8. Medieval Latinsclavus
  9. Old Frenchesclave
  10. Middle Englishsclave
  11. Englishslave
  12. Englishslaver
  13. English todayslavery

From slaver + -y.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.