serfdom

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the condition of being a serf, bound to work on a lord's land and subject to the lord's authority

   The reform formally released the peasants from serfdom.

2. 2
   noun

   the feudal social and economic system based on the labor and legal dependence of serfs

   Serfdom remained central to the region's rural economy for centuries.

From serf + -dom. Serf entered English through Old French from Latin servus, 'slave or servant'; -dom denotes a condition or domain, so serfdom names both the serf's status and the system sustaining it.

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