servant
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English servaunt, from Old French servant, from the present participle of the verb servir. Doublet of sergeant and servient. Morphologically serve + -ant. Displaced native Old English þeġn.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɜːvənt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɝvənt/, [ˈsɝvn̩ʔ]
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)vənt
Noun
editservant (plural servants)
- One who is hired to perform regular household or other duties, and receives compensation. As opposed to a slave.
- There are three servants in the household, the butler and two maids.
- 1837, James Fenimore Cooper, Gleanings in Europe: England:
- In the great houses, servants out of livery help to the different plats, servants in livery holding the dishes, sauces, etc., and changing the plates.
- 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
- As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.
- One who serves another, providing help in some manner.
- She is quite the humble servant, the poor in this city owe much to her but she expects nothing.
- (religion) A person who dedicates themselves to God.
- (obsolete) A professed lover.
- A person of low condition or spirit.
Derived terms
editTranslations
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Verb
editservant (third-person singular simple present servants, present participle servanting, simple past and past participle servanted)
- (obsolete, transitive) To subject.
- c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
- Wife, Mother, Child, I know not. My affaires
Are Seruanted to others […]
References
edit- “servant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
editFrench
editEtymology
editFrom Middle French, from Old French servant, a substantivized present participle of servir. Cf. also Latin serviens, and French sergent.
Pronunciation
editParticiple
editservant
Noun
editservant m (plural servants, feminine servante)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “servant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
editLatin
editVerb
editservant
Middle English
editNoun
editservant
- Alternative form of servaunt
Norwegian Bokmål
editNoun
editservant m (definite singular servanten, indefinite plural servanter, definite plural servantene)
Synonyms
editNorwegian Nynorsk
editNoun
editservant m (definite singular servanten, indefinite plural servantar, definite plural servantane)
Synonyms
editOld French
editVerb
editservant
Adjective
editservant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular servant or servante)
- that serves; that fulfils a role
Noun
editservant oblique singular, m (oblique plural servanz or servantz, nominative singular servanz or servantz, nominative plural servant)
- servant (one who serves)
Descendants
edit- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English doublets
- English terms suffixed with -ant
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)vənt
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)vənt/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Religion
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Occupations
- en:People
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French non-lemma forms
- French present participles
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin verb forms
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål masculine nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk masculine nouns
- Old French non-lemma forms
- Old French present participles
- Old French lemmas
- Old French adjectives
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns