servant

SaySUR-vuhnt/ˈsɝvənt/UK/ˈsɜːvənt/

6 meanings of servant

1
nouncountable
A person hired to perform regular household or other duties for pay, rather than an enslaved worker.
The household employed a servant to manage the kitchen and laundry.
Wealthy families once kept many servants for their daily needs.
Similardomestic, attendant, retainer, helper
Oppositemaster, employer
Note
The household sense is the place to tell the word's story. It comes through Middle English servaunt from the Old French present participle of servir, so a servant is literally "one serving." It displaced the native Old English þeġn and is a doublet of sergeant. Great houses divided their staff finely: James Fenimore Cooper's Gleanings in Europe: England (1837) separates servants in livery from servants out of livery.
2
nouncountable
A person who serves another and provides help in some manner.
She described herself as a faithful servant of the public interest.
True leaders see themselves as servants of those they lead.
Similarhelper, supporter, aide
Oppositemaster
3
nouncountable
A person who devotes themselves to the service of God.
He devoted his whole life as a servant of God.
The nuns lived as servants of God, giving up worldly comforts.
Similardevotee, disciple, follower, worshipper
Note
Religious language takes the household bond and puts God in the master's place. The word is common in devotional and liturgical self-description, where believers name themselves God's servants. Unlike the hired household servant, no wage is implied: the dedication itself is the whole of the relationship.
4
nouncountable
A person of low social condition, or one of base or servile spirit.
He revealed himself a true servant, fawning over every person of power.
They dismissed the newcomers as servants, unworthy of any respect.
Similarlackey, flunky, sycophant, toady, menial
Oppositemaster, aristocrat

Less common meanings

5
nounobsolete
A person who professes love and devotion to another; a declared suitor.
Note
A lover's title from the conventions of medieval and Renaissance courtly love. In that tradition a man professed devotion to a lady and styled himself her servant, borrowing the language of service for a bond of love rather than wages. The usage is obsolete, and a modern reader will take the word in its ordinary sense. Keep it for historical writing or pastiche.
6
verbobsoletetransitive
To make someone or something subject to the power or control of another.
Note
Shakespeare turns the noun into a verb in Coriolanus (c. 1608–1609). There the hero says his affairs are servanted to others: no longer his to direct, but answerable to someone else. The verb works in the passive with to, and its forms are regular: servanted, servanting. It is obsolete; modern English says subject to or at the service of.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English servaunt, from Old French servant, the present participle of the verb servir ("to serve"). It is formed from serve plus -ant, and is a doublet of sergeant and servient. It displaced the native Old English þeġn.