vassal
Meanings
Plural: vassals
Noun
- a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord
- The grantee of a fief, a subordinate granted use of a superior's land and its income in exchange for vows of fidelity and homage and (typically) military service.
- Any direct subordinate bound by such vows to a superior.
- Any subordinate bound by similar close ties.
Adj
- Resembling a vassal; slavish; servile.
Verb
- To treat as a vassal or to reduce to the position of a vassal; to subject to control; to enslave.
- To subordinate to someone or something.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English vassal, from Old French vassal, from Medieval Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from Latin vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas).
Synonyms
bondsman, dependant, feudal tenant, feudatory, helot, liege, liege subject, liegeman, serf, servant, slave, subject, thrall, villein
Scrabble Score: 9
vassal is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordvassal is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
vassal is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary