late 15c., "servant, serving-man, slave," from Old French serf "vassal, servant, slave" (12c.), from Latin servum (nominative servus) "slave" (see serve). Fallen from use in original sense by 18c. Meaning "lowest class of cultivators of the soil in continental European countries" is from 1610s. Use by modern writers with reference to medieval Europeans first recorded 1761 (contemporary Anglo-Latin records used nativus, villanus, or servus).
例文
1. The serf -owners had the right to beat,abuse or even kill the serfs at will.
(その時)農奴主は農奴を殴ったり殺したりする権利があった。
2.In the Midle Ages,a lord and a serf had very different places in life.
中世、農奴主と農奴は生活の中で2つの全く異なる階級だった。
3.This movement overthrew the serf system and freed a million serfs and slaves.
この運動は農奴制を覆し、百万人の農奴と奴隷を解放した。
4.This decentralized economic system relied on the legal immobility of the serf .