servant

B1 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈsɝvənt/ UK /ˈsɜːvənt/ See IPA manual

Freq #3026

Meanings

1

noun
A person employed to do household or other duties for another, especially in someone's home.

There are three servants in the household: the butler and two maids.
2

noun
A person who serves or helps others, often selflessly.

She saw herself as a humble servant of the poor.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person employed to do... domestic

Word family

Forms sarvant’sservants

Derived forms bondservanteven-servanteye-servanteyeservantmaid-servantmaidservantmanservantnonservantoutservantservantageservantdomservantess

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

indentured servant
a person bound by a contract to work for a specified period

Adjective + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

Fire is a good servant, but a bad master

Etymology

From 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.

servaunt Middle English servant Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# servant

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɝvənt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɜːvənt/
**Frequency rank:** 3026

## Meanings
1. A person employed to do household or other duties for another, especially in someone's home.
2. A person who serves or helps others, often selflessly.

## Examples
- There are three servants in the household: the butler and two maids.
- She saw herself as a humble servant of the poor.

## Derived Forms
- bondservant
- even-servant
- eye-servant
- eyeservant
- maid-servant
- maidservant
- manservant
- nonservant
- outservant
- servantage
- servantdom
- servantess

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: servaunt
- Root: servant
- Affix: -ant - one who

## Etymology
From 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.

## AI Etymology
Servant is from 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. Important forms in the word's history include Middle English servaunt, Old French servant. In current use it includes senses such as A person employed to do household or other duties for another, especially in someone's home and A person who serves or helps others, often selflessly.

## Topics
- People & Society

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