serf

[Fr., from Lat. servum, acc us. of servus =a slave; servio to serve (q. v.).] A villein; one who in the middle ages was incapable of holding property, was attached to the soil, and transferred with it, and was liable to feudal services of the lowest description; a feudal slave; a forced laborer attached to an estate, as, until March, 1863, in Ru ia.