slave

See also slāve, slavē, slāvē, and Slave

English

Alternative forms

obsolete alternative forms

α forms ([skl]-initial): (14th century): sclaue (15th century): sclaue sclave (16th century): sclaue sklaw sklaue sklave

β forms ([sl]-initial): (16th century): slaif slaue slave (modern spelling developed) (17th century): slaue slave (whenceforth the modern spelling predominated)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French sclave, from Medieval Latin sclāvus (“slave”), from Sclāvus (“Slav”), because Slavs were often forced into slavery in the Middle Ages. Compare Byzantine Greek σκλάβος.

Pronunciation

• enPR: slāv, IPA: /sleɪv/, X-SAMPA: /sleIv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪv

Noun

slave (plural slaves)

1. A person who is the property of another person and whose labor and also whose life often is subject to the owner's volition.
2. A person who is legally obliged by prior contract (oral or written) to work for another, with contractually limited rights to bargain; an indentured servant.
3. A person who is forced against his/her will to perform, for another person or other persons, sexual acts or other personal services on a regular or continuing basis.
4. (engineering) A device that is controlled by another device.

Derived terms

terms derived from slave

antislavery bondslave enslave enslavement enslaver no slave to fashion postslavery sex slave sexual slavery slaveboy slave code slavedom slave driver, slave-driver Slave Dynasty slave-girl, slavegirl slaveholder slaveholding

slave labour slaveless slavelike slavemaster slaveowner slaver slave to fashion slavery slave ship slave trade slavey slavish wage slave white slave white slaver white slavery

See also

• chattel
• indentured servant
• Slave (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Slave (disambiguation)
• Slavery on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Slavery

Translations

person owned by another

• Afrikaans: slaaf (af)
• Akkadian: abdu
• Albanian: rob (sq), skllav (sq)
• Arabic: عبد (ar) (ʿabd) m
• Armenian: ստրուկ (hy) (struk)
• Azeri: qul (az)
• Bashkir: ҡол (qol)
• Belarusian: раб (be) (rab) m, рабыня (be) (rabýnja) f
• Bulgarian: роб (bg) (rob) m, робиня (bg) (robínja) f
• Catalan: esclau (ca) m, esclava (ca) f
• Chechen: лай (lay)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奴隸 (cmn), 奴隶 (cmn) (núlì)

• Chuvash: чура (çura)
• Czech: otrok (cs) m, otrokyně (cs) f
• Danish: slave (da) c, træl (da) c
• Dolgan: кулут (kulut)
• Dutch: slaaf (nl)
• Esperanto: sklavo (eo)
• Estonian: ori (et)
• Faroese: trælur (fo) m, trælkona (fo) f
• Finnish: orja (fi)
• French: esclave (fr) m and f, serf (fr) m
• Georgian: მონა (ka) (mona)
• German: Sklave (de) m, Sklavin (de) f
• Greek: δούλος (el) (doúlos) m

  Ancient: δούλος (doulos) m

• Greenlandic: inussiaq (kl)
• Haitian Creole: esklav
• Hebrew: עבד (he) ('eved) m
• Hindi: दास (hi) (dās) m
• Hungarian: rabszolga (hu)
• Icelandic: þræll (is) m
• Indonesian: hamba (id)
• Italian: schiavo (it) m, schiava (it) f
• Japanese: 奴隷 (ja) (どれい, dorei)
• Kalmyk: мухла (muhla), бөгл (bögl)
• Karachay-Balkar: къул (qul)
• Kazakh: құл (kk) (qul)
• Khakas: хул (xul)
• Korean: 노예 (ko) (noye) (奴隸 (ko))

• Kumyk: къул (qul)
• Kyrgyz: кул (ky) (qul)
• Latgalian: viergs m
• Latin: servus (la), sclavus (la)
• Latvian: vergs (lv) m
• Lithuanian: vergas (lt) m
• Macedonian: роб (mk) (rob) m, робинка (mk) (róbinka) f
• Manx: sleab (gv) m
• Maori: mōkai taurekareka (mi)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: кул (kul)

• Norwegian: slave (no), trell (no)
• Old English: wealh (ang)
• Persian: بردَه (fa) (barda), بندَه (fa) (banda)
• Polish: niewolnik (pl) m, niewolnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: escravo (pt) m, escrava (pt) f
• Romanian: sclav (ro), rob (ro), serv (ro)
• Russian: раб (ru) (rab) m, рабыня (ru) (rabýnja) f, раба (ru) (rabá) f, невольник (ru) (nevólʹnik) m, невольница (ru) (nevólʹnica) f
• Sanskrit: दास (sa) (dāsa) m
• Scottish Gaelic: tràill (gd) m and f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: роб (sh) m

  Roman: rob (sh) m

• Shor: қул (qul)
• Slovak: otrok (sk) m, otrokyňa (sk) f
• Slovene: suženj (sl) m, sužnja (sl) f
• Southern Altai: кул (qul)
• Spanish: esclavo (es) m
• Swahili: falahi (sw)
• Swedish: slav (sv) c, träl (sv) c
• Tatar: кол (tt) (qol)
• Telugu: దాసుడు (te)
• Thai: ทาส (th) (tâat), ข้า (th) (kâa)
• Turkish: köle (tr), kul (tr)
• Turkmen: gul (tk)
• Ukrainian: раб (uk) (rab) m, рабиня (uk) (rabýnja) f
• Uzbek: qul (uz)
• Vietnamese: nô lệ (vi) (奴隸 (vi)), người nô lệ (vi)
• Volapük: (male or female) slafan (vo), (male) hislafan (vo), (female) jislafan (vo)
• Yakut: кулут (kulut)

person forced to work for another

• Armenian: ստրուկ (hy) (struk)
• Catalan: esclau (ca) m, esclava (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奴隸 (cmn), 奴隶 (cmn) (núlì)

• Czech: nevolník (cs) m, nevolníce (cs) f
• Danish: slave (da) c
• Finnish: orja (fi)
• French: esclave (fr)
• Galician: escravo (gl)
• German: Sklave (de) m, Sklavin (de) f
• Greek: δούλος (el) (doúlos) m

  Ancient: δούλος (doulos) m

• Japanese: 奴隷 (ja) (どれい, dorei)
• Latvian: vergs (lv) m
• Persian: بردَه (fa) (barda)
• Polish: niewolnik (pl) m, niewolnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: escravo (pt) m, escrava (pt) f
• Russian: раб (ru) (rab) m, рабыня (ru) (rabýnja) f, раба (ru) (rabá) f, невольник (ru) (nevólʹnik) m, невольница (ru) (nevólʹnica) f
• Scottish Gaelic: tràill (gd) m and f
• Slovene: suženj (sl) m, sužnja (sl) f
• Swahili: falahi (sw)
• Swedish: slav (sv) c

person who is forced to perform sexual acts

• Danish: slave (da) c
• Finnish: seksiorja (fi)
• Galician: escravo (gl) m
• German: Sklave (de) m, Sklavin (de) f
• Greek: σκλάβος (el) (sklávos) m, σκλάβα (el) (skláva) f
• Latvian: vergs (lv) m
• Norwegian: sexslave (no) m, seksualslave (no) m
• Polish: niewolnik (pl) m, niewolnica (pl) f

• Portuguese: escravo (pt) m, escrava (pt) f
• Russian: раб (ru) (rab) m, рабыня (ru) (rabýnja) f, раба (ru) (rabá) f
• Scottish Gaelic: tràill (gd) m and f
• Slovene: suženj (sl) m, sužnja (sl) f
• Swahili: falahi (sw)
• Swedish: slav (sv) c, sexslav (sv) c

engineering: device that is controlled by another device

• Danish: slave (da) c
• Finnish: orja (fi)
• Galician: escravo (gl) m
• German: Slave (de) m, Folgegerät (de) n
• Greek: δευτερεύων (el) (defterévon) m, υποσυσκευή (el) (yposyskeví) f
• Japanese: スレーブ (ja) (surēbu)

• Russian: ведомый (ru) (vedómyj) m, ведомое устройство (ru) (vedómoje ustrójstvo) n
• Swahili: falahi (sw)
• Swedish: slav (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Afrikaans: (1, 2) slaaf (af)
• Arabic: الرقيق (ar) (ar-raqiq) (1, 2)
• Occitan: esclau (oc) m, esclava (oc) f
• Dutch: slaaf (nl) m, (1, 2) slavin (nl) f
• French: (1, 2) esclave (fr)
• Icelandic: þræll (is) m
• Ido: sklavo (io)
• Indonesian: budak (id)
• Interlingua: sclavo (ia) m, sclava (ia) f
• Italian: schiavo (it)
• Occitan: esclau (oc) m, esclava (oc) f
• Old English: hæft (ang)
• Romanian: sclav (ro) m, sclavă (ro) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ро̏б (sh) m, слу́га (sh) f

  Roman: rȍb (sh) m, slúga (sh) f

• Spanish: esclavo (es) m, esclava (es) f
• Telugu: బానిస (te) (baanisa) (1, 2)

Verb

slave (third-person singular simple present slaves, present participle slaving, simple past and past participle slaved)

1. (intransitive) To work hard.

   I was slaving all day over a hot stove.

2. (transitive) To enslave.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Marston to this entry?)

Translations

to work hard

• Czech: otročit (cs)
• Danish: slave (da)
• Finnish: raataa (fi)
• Icelandic: þræla (is), púla (is)
• Macedonian: робува (mk) (róbuva)
• Maori: whakarīrā (mi)
• Portuguese: mourejar (pt)

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: робо̀вати (sh)

  Roman: robòvati (sh)

• Swahili: falahi (sw)
• Swedish: slava (sv)

References

• August 2, 2004, "EE Times: Beware 'zombie' clauses
• Notes:

Anagrams

• avels
• salve
• selva
• vales

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Danish

Noun

slave c (singular definite slaven, plural indefinite slaver)

1. slave

Synonyms

• træl c

Derived terms

• slaveri n

Inflection

    Inflection of slave

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative, dative and accusative	slave	slaven	slaver	slaverne
genitive	slaves	slavens	slavers	slavernes

Verb

slave (imperative slav, infinitive at slave, present tense slaver, past tense slavede, past participle har slavet)

1. slave

Synonyms

• trælle v

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French

Etymology

In Middle French Sclave ("Slav"), from Medieval Latin sclavus or Sclavus, from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /slav/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

Adjective

slave (masculine and feminine, plural slaves)

1. Slav, Slavic

   Les langues slaves.

Derived terms

• panslave
• panslavisme
• Slave
• slavisant
• slaviser
• slavisme
• slaviste
• slavistique
• slavophile
• slavophilie
• slavophilisme

Related terms

• esclave
• slavon, esclavon

Noun

slave m (usually uncountable)

1. Slavic language

   Avant le IXe siècle, on présume que les Slaves partageaient tous une langue à peu près identique appelée le slave commun, mais aucun écrit avant 860 ne peut le prouver.

References

• "slave" in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• laves, lavés, levas, salve, valse, valsé

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Italian

Adjective

slave f

1. Plural form of slavo

Noun

slave f

1. Plural form of slavo

Anagrams

• salve, selva, svela, valse

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Latvian

Noun

slave f, 5th declension

1. (dialectal) fame, glory; alternative form of slava

Declension

declension of slave

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	slave	—
accusative (akuzatīvs)	slavi	—
genitive (ģenitīvs)	slaves	—
dative (datīvs)	slavei	—
instrumental (instrumentālis)	slavi	—
locative (lokatīvs)	slavē	—
vocative (vokatīvs)	slave	—