serf

IPA/sɜːf/
KK[sˈɚf]IPA/sɜːrf/

serf — noun

  • serfsingular
  • serfsplural

1. In medieval Europe, an unfree individual legally attached to a lord's land, obli

1.名詞B2
釋義

In medieval Europe, an unfree individual legally attached to a lord's land, obliged to cultivate the lord's fields and receiving a small home and a patch of ground for personal crops in return.

例句

Mei-Ling's history textbook explained how serfs could not leave the village without the lord's permission.

modal: could not leave

The old stone well had been built by serfs who worked there six centuries ago.

passive: had been built by

同義詞
  • peasant

    Broader term — any poor rural farmer, free or unfree; not all peasants were serfs

  • villein

    Historical term for a specific type of unfree peasant in England; a legal category similar to serf

反義詞
  • lord

    The landowner who held authority over serfs

  • freeman

    A person with full legal freedom, not tied to land or lord

文法句型

serf + verb

用法筆記

Serf describes a specific legal and social status in medieval feudalism. Unlike 'slave', a serf was not owned as property but was bound to the land and could not leave it.

常見錯誤

❌The plantation owner bought several serfs to work in the cotton fields.
✅The plantation owner bought several enslaved people to work in the cotton fields.
💡Serfs existed in medieval Europe, not in the context of American plantation slavery.