Meanings
fetter1
plural fetters
- figurativelyAnything that restricts or restrains.
Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound.
1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, Prologue2 more examples
He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.
1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 6, in Frankenstein, archived from the original on 08 May 2013That was the turning-point of my life. I broke my fetters, and I fought a hard fight for a new career …
1910, Erwin Rosen, “Prolog”, in In the Foreign Legion, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2012
present singular third person fetters · participle present fettering · participle past fettered · past fettered
- transitiveTo shackle or bind up with fetters.
1 more example
The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!
1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, →OCLC, page 474
Fetter2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA chain or similar object used to bind a person or animal, often by its legs.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ped-“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”
- Proto-Germanic*feturaz“fetter”
- Proto-West Germanic*fetur
- Old Englishfeter
- Middle Englishfeter
- Englishfetter
From Middle English feter, from Old English feter, Proto-West Germanic *fetur, from Proto-Germanic *feturaz (“fetter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”). Related to foot. Cognates Cognate with Dutch veter (“cable, chain, hawser; bond, fetter”), Faroese fjøtur (“fetter”), Icelandic fjötur (“fetter”), Swedish fjätter (“fetter, shackle”); also Irish feadh (“extent, length”), feá (“fathom”), Scottish Gaelic feadh (“extent, length; fathom”), Latgalian pāda (“foot”), Latvian pēda (“foot”), Lithuanian pėda (“foot”), Belarusian па́даць (pádacʹ, “to fall”), Bulgarian па́дам (pádam, “to grop, fall”), Czech padat (“to fall”), Polish padać (“to fall”), Russian па́дать (pádatʹ, “to fall”), Serbo-Croatian padati, падати (“to fall”), Slovene padati (“to fall”), Ukrainian па́дати (pádaty, “to fall”), Latin peior, pejor (“worse”), Ancient Greek πέδη (pédē, “fetter, shackle; anklet, bangle”), Armenian ետ (et, “back, backward”), հետ (het, “back; with”), Ossetian фестӕг (festæg), фистӕг (fistæg, “pedestrian”), Old Persian 𐎱𐎿𐎫𐎡 (p-s-t-i, “foot soldier, infantryman”), Sanskrit पद्यते (padyate, “to fall, topple; to perish”), Hittite 𒁉𒂊𒁕𒀭 (“place; floor, ground”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek πέδη, δεσμός
- πέδη (pédē)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- δεσμός (desmós)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- δεσμός (desmós)anything that restricts or restrains in any way
- δέω (déō)to shackle or bind up with fetters
- πεδάω (pedáō)to shackle or bind up with fetters
- δέω (déō)to restrain or impede
- πεδάω (pedáō)to restrain or impede
Arabic غُلّ, أَغْلال
- غُلّ (ḡull)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- أَغْلال (ʔaḡlāl)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Bulgarian букаи, окови
- букаи (bukai)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- окови (okovi)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- окови (okovi)anything that restricts or restrains in any way
- оковавам (okovavam)to shackle or bind up with fetters
- спъвам (spăvam)to restrain or impede
- ограничавам (ograničavam)to restrain or impede
Catalan grilló, obstacle
- grillóobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- obstacleanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- engrillonarto shackle or bind up with fetters
- impedirto restrain or impede
Chinese Cantonese 束縛 /束缚, 限制
- 束縛 /束缚 (cuk¹ bok³)anything that restricts or restrains in any way
- 限制 (haan⁶ zai³)anything that restricts or restrains in any way
Chinese Mandarin 鐐 /镣, 脚镣
- 鐐 /镣 (liào, liáo)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- 脚镣 (jiǎoliào)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- 束縛 /束缚 (shùfù, shùfú)to shackle or bind up with fetters
- 束縛 /束缚 (shùfù, shùfú)to restrain or impede
Czech pouto, pouta
- poutoobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- poutaobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- okovyobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- okovyanything that restricts or restrains in any way
Danish lænke, fodlænke
- lænkeobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- fodlænkeobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Dutch kluister, boei
- kluisterobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- boeiobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Esperanto alkateni
- alkatenito shackle or bind up with fetters
Finnish kahleet, kahle
- kahleetobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- kahleobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- kahleanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- kahlitato shackle or bind up with fetters
- kahlitato restrain or impede
- rajoittaato restrain or impede
French entrave, fers
- entraveobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- fersobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- entraveanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- obstacleanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- entraverto shackle or bind up with fetters
- entraverto restrain or impede
German Fessel, Fußfessel
- Fesselobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- Fußfesselobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- Fußschelleobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Hindi बेड़ी
- बेड़ी (beṛī)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Hungarian béklyó, lábbilincs
- béklyóobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- lábbilincsobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- bilincsanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- láncanything that restricts or restrains in any way
Irish laincis, cuibhrigh
- laincisobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- cuibhrighto shackle or bind up with fetters
Italian ferri, ceppi
- ferriobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- ceppiobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- ostacolianything that restricts or restrains in any way
- incatenareto shackle or bind up with fetters
- ostacolareto restrain or impede
Latin vinculum, compēs
- vinculumobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- compēsobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- vinculumanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- teneoto restrain or impede
Norwegian Bokmål lenke, fotlenke
- lenkeobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- fotlenkeobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Persian غل و زنجیر, بند
- غل و زنجیر (ġol o zanjir)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- بند (band)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- اشکیل (eškil)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- قید (qeyd)anything that restricts or restrains in any way
- قید و بندanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- بستن (bastan)to shackle or bind up with fetters
Polish kajdany, okowy
- kajdanyobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- okowyobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- pętoobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- pętaobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Portuguese ferros, grilhões
- ferrosobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- grilhõesobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- grilhetasobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- peiaobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- grilhõesanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- peiaanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- agrilhoarto shackle or bind up with fetters
- agrilhoarto restrain or impede
Russian пу́ты, око́вы
- пу́ты (púty)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- око́вы (okóvy)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- кандалы́ (kandalý)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- пу́ты (púty)anything that restricts or restrains in any way
- око́вы (okóvy)anything that restricts or restrains in any way
- заковывать (zakovyvatʹ)to shackle or bind up with fetters
- сковывать (skovyvatʹ)to restrain or impede
- свя́зывать (svjázyvatʹ)to restrain or impede
Scottish Gaelic dì-leum, cuibhreach
- dì-leumobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- cuibhreachobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- cuibhrichto shackle or bind up with fetters
Spanish grillos, pihuelas
- grillosobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- pihuelasobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- maneaobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- pihuelaobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- grilleteobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- apeaobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- grillosanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- pihuelaanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- trabaanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- obstáculoanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- engrillarto shackle or bind up with fetters
- aherrojarto shackle or bind up with fetters
- impedirto restrain or impede
Swedish fotboja, fjättra
- fotbojaobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- fjättrato shackle or bind up with fetters
Thai ตรวน
- ตรวน (dtruuan)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Turkish pranga, köstek
- prangaobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- köstekobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- köstekanything that restricts or restrains in any way
- bukağılamakto shackle or bind up with fetters
- pranga vurmakto shackle or bind up with fetters
- kösteklemekto shackle or bind up with fetters
- pranga vurmakto restrain or impede
- kösteklemekto restrain or impede
Ukrainian пу́та, око́ви
- пу́та (púta)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
- око́ви (okóvy)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Urdu بیڑی
- بیڑی (beṛī)object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Welsh llyffethair
- llyffethairobject used to bind a person or animal by its legs
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with fetter
Cite this entry
fetter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fetter
“fetter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fetter. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fetter,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fetter.
Source: fetter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.