servant

English

Alternative forms

• servaunt (obsolete)
• servand (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French servant, from the present participle of the verb servir.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːvənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝvənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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.

   • 1915, George A. Birmingham, “chapter I”, in Gossamer (Project Gutenberg; EBook #24394), London: Methuen & Co., published 8 January 2013 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 558189256:

     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.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• assigned servant
• civil servant
• maidservant

• manservant
• public servant
• servantly

Translations

one who is hired to perform regular household or other duties, and receives compensation

• Amharic: ሎሌ m (lole)
• Arabic: خَادِم‎‎ m (ḵādim), خَادِمَة‎‎ f (ḵādima)
• Armenian: ծառա (hy) (caṙa), սպասավոր (hy) (spasavor)
• Aromanian: dul m, huzmichear m, shcljau m
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: слуга́ m (sluhá), служа́нка f (služánka)
• Bole: buda
• Breton: servijour m, servijourez f
• Bulgarian: слуга́ (bg) m (slugá)
• Burmese: အစေအပါး (my) (a.cea.pa:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 僕人 (zh), 仆人 (zh) (púrén), 傭人 (zh), 佣人 (zh) (yōngrén)

• Czech: sluha (cs) m, služebný m
• Dutch: hulp (nl), hulpje (nl), huishoudhulp, bediende (nl), knecht (nl) m, meid (nl) f
• Erzya: вардо m (vardo), варданка f (vardanka)
• Finnish: palvelija (fi)
• French: serviteur (fr) m, domestique (fr) m, f, servante (fr) f
• Friulian: sierf m, famei m, servidôr m
• Galician: servente (gl) m
• Georgian: მსახური (msaxuri)
• German: Diener (de) m, Dienerin (de) f, Lakai (de) m, Kammerdiener (de) m, Zofe (de) f, Bediensteter (de) m, Bediener m, Dienstbote (de) m; (rural:) Knecht (de) m, Magd (de) f
• Greek: υπηρέτης (el) m (ypirétis)
• Hausa: yaro (ha)
• Indonesian: pembantu (id)
• Irish: seirbhíseach m, searbhónta m
• Italian: servo (it) m, servitore (it) m, domestico (it) m, famiglio (it) m
• Japanese: 使用人 (しようにん, shiyōnin), 召使い (めしつかい, meshitsukai)

• Khmer: អ្នកបំរើ (neak bɑmrəə)
• Korean: 하인 (ko) (hain), 머슴 (ko) (meoseum)
• Lao: ຂະຍົມ (kha nyom), ຂ້າ (lo) (khā), ບ່າວ (bāo)
• Macedonian: слуга m (sluga)
• Maore Comorian: mutru wa hazi class 1/2
• Maori: hāwini, tūmau
• Navajo: naalʼaʼí
• Polish: służący (pl) m pers, służąca (pl) f
• Portuguese: empregado (pt) m, criado (pt) m, serviçal (pt) m, f
• Romanian: servitor (ro) m, slugă (ro) f, slujitor (ro) m
• Russian: слуга́ (ru) m (slugá), служа́нка (ru) f (služánka)
• Scottish Gaelic: searbhanta m, f, seirbhiseach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: слуга m

  Roman: sluga (sh) m

• Sicilian: servu (scn) m
• Slovak: sluha m
• Slovene: služabnik (sl) m, služabnica f, sluga m, služkinja f
• Spanish: sirviente (es) m, criado (es) m, mozo (es) m, doméstico (es) m, empleado (es) m
• Swahili: mtumishi (sw)
• Swedish: betjänt (sv) c, tjänare (sv) c
• Thai: ข้า (th) (kâa), บ่าว (th) (bàao), ภัจ (pát), คนรับใช้ (kon ráp chái)
• Tibetan: བྲན་གཡོག (bran g.yog)
• Tigrinya: ከዳሚ m (kedami)
• Ukrainian: слуга́ m (sluhá), служни́ця f (služnýcja)
• Venetian: servidór m, famegio m, besariòl m
• Yiddish: דינסט‎‎ n (dinst), קנעכט‎‎ m (knekht), באַדינער‎‎ m (badiner), באַדינערטע‎‎ f (badinerte)

one who serves another, providing help in some manner

• Bactrian: βανδαγο (bandago)
• Czech: služebník (cs) m
• Dutch: dienaar (nl) m, bediende (nl) m, f
• Finnish: palvelija (fi)
• German: Helfer (de) m, Helferin (de) f
• Greek: υπηρέτης (el) m (ypirétis)
• Indonesian: pelayan (id)

• Irish: seirbhíseach m, searbhónta m
• Maori: wheteke
• Portuguese: servente (pt) m, f
• Russian: служи́тель (ru) m (služítelʹ), служи́тельница (ru) f (služítelʹnica)
• Scottish Gaelic: searbhanta m, f, seirbhiseach m
• Spanish: servidor (es) m
• Swedish: tjänare (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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} shërbëtor m

  Egyptian Arabic: ^{(please verify)} خدام‎‎ m (khadam)

• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} criat m, ^{(please verify)} criada f
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} servisto
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} teener
• Ewe: ^{(please verify)} dɔla
• French: ^{(please verify)} domestique (fr), ^{(please verify)} serviteur (fr) m
• Haitian Creole: ^{(please verify)} sèvitè
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} עבד‎‎ (he) (eved)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} नौकर m (naukar)
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} szolga (hu), ^{(please verify)} cseléd (hu)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} servo (it) m, ^{(please verify)} servitore m, f
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 하인 (ko) (hain)
• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} نۆکه‌ر‎‎ (ku) (noker)

  Sorani: به‌رده‌ست‎‎ (ku) (berdest), خزمه‌تکار‎‎ (xizmetkár)

• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} слуга m (sluga), ^{(please verify)} слугинка f (sluginka), ^{(please verify)} измеќар m (izmeḱar), ^{(please verify)} измеќарка f (izmeḱarka), ^{(please verify)} момок m (momok)
• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} qaddej m, ^{(please verify)} qaddeja f, ^{(please verify)} servjent m, ^{(please verify)} servjenta f, ^{(please verify)} seftur m, ^{(please verify)} seftura f, ^{(please verify)} rufjan m, ^{(please verify)} rufjana f
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} þeġen m (1)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} servitor (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} slugă (ro) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} слу́га f, ^{(please verify)} слу̀жа̄вка f

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} slúga f, ^{(please verify)} slùžāvka f

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} sirviente (es) m, f, ^{(please verify)} criado (es) m, ^{(please verify)} criada (es) f
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} utumishi (sw)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} betjänt (sv), ^{(please verify)} tjänare (sv) c, ^{(please verify)} tjänstefolk n, ^{(please verify)} hjon (sv) n
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} tagapaglingkod
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} సేవకుడు (te) (sēvakuḍu)
• Urdu: ^{(please verify)} نوکر‎‎ m (naukar)

Verb

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

1. (obsolete) To subject.

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

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for servant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

• starven, taverns, versant

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French

Etymology

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

Verb

servant

1. present participle of servir

Noun

servant m (plural servants, feminine servante)

1. servant

Related terms

• serveur, serveuse

Further reading

• “servant” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• versant

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Latin

Verb

servant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of servō

---

Middle English

Etymology

Old French servant, originally the present participle of servir

Noun

servant (plural servants)

1. servant

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

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

1. a washbasin
2. a sink

Synonyms

• vask
• vaskeservant

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

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

1. a washbasin
2. a sink

Synonyms

• vaskeservant

---

Old French

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

1. servant (one who serves)

Descendants

• English: servant (borrowed)
• French: servant