How do you use Serf in a sentence? See 10+ example sentences showing how this word appears in different contexts, including synonyms like helot or villein, plus the exact meaning.
Serf meaning
- A partially free peasant of a low hereditary class, attached like a slave to the land owned by a feudal lord and required to perform labour, enjoying minimal legal or customary rights.
- A similar agricultural labourer in 18th and 19th century Europe.
- A worker unit.
Using Serf
- The main meaning on this page is: A partially free peasant of a low hereditary class, attached like a slave to the land owned by a feudal lord and required to perform labour, enjoying minimal legal or customary rights. | A similar agricultural labourer in 18th and 19th century Europe. | A worker unit.
- Useful related words include: helot, villein, thrall.
- In the example corpus, serf often appears in combinations such as: of serf, the serf, serf of.
Context around Serf
- Average sentence length in these examples: 21.1 words
- Position in the sentence: 4 start, 9 middle, 7 end
- Sentence types: 20 statements, 0 questions, 0 exclamations
Corpus analysis for Serf
- In this selection, "serf" usually appears in the middle of the sentence. The average example has 21.1 words, and this corpus slice is mostly made up of statements.
- Around the word, client, runaway, talented, times, theatre and wages stand out and add context to how "serf" is used.
- Recognizable usage signals include a runaway serf s land and a subservient serf class. That gives this page its own corpus information beyond isolated example sentences.
- By corpus frequency, "serf" sits close to words such as abattoirs, abike and ablative, which helps place it inside the broader word index.
Example types with serf
The same corpus examples are grouped by length and sentence type, making it easier to see the contexts in which the word appears:
A runaway serf's land was forfeit after ten years. (10 words)
Saint Serf of Culross was associated with Nechtan's brother Bridei. (11 words)
Elizabeth purchased the talented serf from the nobleman for her own choir. (12 words)
Her great grandmother’s family, the Kamenskys, were the first to open a serf theatre in Russia: a unique cultural phenomenon starting in the 18th century when serfs would perform for aristocratic families in private theatres. (36 words)
Prokofiev's mother, Maria (née Zhitkova), came from a family of former serfs who had been owned by the Sheremetev family, under whose patronage serf-children were taught theatre and arts from an early age. (35 words)
Benedetti (1999, 16) A copy of Shchepkin's Memoirs of a Serf-Actor, in which the actor describes his struggle to achieve a naturalness of style, was heavily annotated by Stanislavsky. (31 words)
Example sentences (20)
According to an interview with The Serf Times, was planning a collaboration with creator Shigeru Miyamoto.
Her great grandmother’s family, the Kamenskys, were the first to open a serf theatre in Russia: a unique cultural phenomenon starting in the 18th century when serfs would perform for aristocratic families in private theatres.
I can just imagine all the septuagenarian aunties on FB getting outraged about "those people" daring to have a little fun while they make serf wages.
That’s when I spoke to Sue down over at the pantry and she had me sign up for SERF.
Abraham says that in most cases, "subject, servant, client, serf, pawn, dependent, or retainer" would be more accurate.
A runaway serf's land was forfeit after ten years.
Benedetti (1999, 16) A copy of Shchepkin's Memoirs of a Serf-Actor, in which the actor describes his struggle to achieve a naturalness of style, was heavily annotated by Stanislavsky.
During her reign, Catherine gave away many state-owned peasants to become private serfs (owned by a landowner), and while their ownership changed hands, a serf’s location never did.
Elizabeth purchased the talented serf from the nobleman for her own choir.
For example, a serf of the Demidov family might be named Demidovsky, which translates roughly as "belonging to Demidov" or "one of Demidov's bunch".
Instead of a serf -based system of labor, workers were increasingly employed as part of a broader and expanding money-based economy.
Kimakunduchi is a recent renaming of "Kihadimu"; the old name means "serf" and so is considered pejorative.
Only in this way could a serf leave the farm for which he was responsible.
Poet Mikhail Dudin believed that the poem was dedicated to the serf Olga Kalashnikova.
Prokofiev's mother, Maria (née Zhitkova), came from a family of former serfs who had been owned by the Sheremetev family, under whose patronage serf-children were taught theatre and arts from an early age.
Punishment with a knout Other than these, the rights of a serf were very limited.
Saint Serf of Culross was associated with Nechtan's brother Bridei.
Some biographies state that Marta's father was a gravedigger and handyman, while others speculate that he was a runaway landless serf.
The latter, born a serf, was raised by Louis to that office, but betrayed him later.
The Naboo developed into a classic feudal society with a hereditary noble class and common folk, though unlike most feudal societies, there is no record of a subservient serf class.
Common combinations with serf
These word pairs occur most frequently in English texts:
- of serf 3×
- the serf 2×
- serf of 2×
- serf and 2×
- serf was 2×