servant

Alternative forms

• servaunt, servand (obsolete)

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːvənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝvənt/, [ˈsɝvn̩ʔ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)vənt

Noun

servant (plural servants)

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. (religion) A person who dedicates themselves to God.
4. (obsolete) A professed lover.
5. A person of low condition or spirit.

Verb

servant (third-person singular simple present servants, present participle servanting, simple past and past participle servanted)

1. (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

• “servant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• starven, taverns, versant

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French servant, a substantivized present participle of servir. Cf. also Latin serviens, and French sergent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.vɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ser‧vant

Participle

servant

1. present participle of servir

Noun

servant m (plural servants, feminine servante)

1. servant

Further reading

• “servant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• versant

Verb

servant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of servō

Noun

servant

1. Alternative form of servaunt

Noun

servant m (definite singular servanten, indefinite plural servanter, definite plural servantene)

1. a washbasin
2. a sink

Noun

servant m (definite singular servanten, indefinite plural servantar, definite plural servantane)

1. a washbasin
2. a sink

Verb

servant

1. present participle of servir

Adjective

servant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular servant or servante)

1. that serves; that fulfils a role

Noun

servant oblique singular, m (oblique plural servanz or servantz, nominative singular servanz or servantz, nominative plural servant)

1. servant (one who serves)