servile
ser·vile
adjective
1.
pertaining to or involving slaves
- “the servile wars of Sicily”
2.
submissive or fawning in attitude or behavior
- “spoke in a servile tone”
- “the incurably servile housekeeper”
- “servile tasks such as floor scrubbing and barn work”
3.
Origin
From Middle English servyle, from Old French servil, servile, from Latin servīlis, from servus (“slave”). By surface analysis, serve + -ile.
Phrases
- servile arts
Related words
Word family
Pertaining to
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.