serf:
(plural: ‘serfs‘; for the right pronunciation of this word, please click here)
18th century serfs working on a lord’s land
a person, a member of the lowest class in a feudal society in the past, who was bound to the land and the landlord he worked for;
a person who served someone without personal freedom, especially in Europe in the medieval period;
a helot; a villein; a vassal; a slave,
modern day serfs (migrant workers in the Gulf countries)
A serf in the middle ages was a little better than a slave but a little less than a peasant — unlike a slave he was not sold off but unlike a peasant he was not totally free.
A person of the modern times might be astonished to learn that serfs in the middle ages were almost the property of the landlord on whose land the serf worked and when the land was sold or transferred to another lord, the serfs and their families automatically belonged to the new lord!
Some social activists and experts question if the present system of employment is, even in the most developed countries, any better than the serfdom of the medieval ages because the employees are treated as the serfs were with no rights and freedom of their own… paying taxes but without medical benefits; signing contracts but without any legal rights in their favour, etc.
