Etymology

villein

V4I1L1L1E1I1N1

Today it means: A feudal tenant, a serf. Full definition →

Latin villa
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromvilla“country home”
  2. English todayvillein

From Anglo-Norman vilein, variant of vilain; from Medieval Latin villanus (“field hand”), from Latin villa (“country home”). Doublet of villain.

Words from the same roots

Latinvilla all →

villagevillavill

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.