geneat

G2E1N1E1A1T1

noun

A retainer; vassal; one who holds lands of a superior either by service or payment of rent.

OriginOld English ġenēat →
Scrabble 7
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Meanings

noungeneat (plural geneat or geneats)

plural geneats

  1. historicalA retainer; vassal; one who holds lands of a superior either by service or payment of rent.

    The tenants, cotsetlas, geburs, and geneats, were the highest among the semiservile.

    1861, C. H. Pearson, Early & Middle Ages Eng. I. 201
    2 more examples

    The right of the husbandman was a share right, his name was Geneat or sharer in the vill.

    1872, E. W. Robertson, Hist. Ess. 101

    In each manor there is the same division into land in demesne and land in villainage, the inland and the geneat land.

    1892, F. Seebohm in Hist. Rev. July 458

Origin

  1. Old Englishġenēat“companion, follower, follower in battle; dependant, vassal, tenant who works for a lord”
  2. Englishgeneat

Learned borrowing from Old English ġenēat (“companion, follower, follower in battle; dependant, vassal, tenant who works for a lord”). Cognate with German Genosse (“comrade, etc.”)

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

negateTegean
Cite this entry
APA

geneat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geneat

MLA

“geneat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geneat. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “geneat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geneat.

Source: geneat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.