villein
/ˈvɪlən/
villein noun: a feudal tenant, a serf.
Noun
villein (plural villeins)
- A feudal tenant, a serf.
- If any burgess be appealed of a plea whereon wager of battle may issue by a villein or outdweller , let him defend himself by oath, that is to say by the 36 men, unless he is challenged in respect of a crime that the law requires him to defend by battle, in no case ought a burgess to fight against...1907, Antiquities of Sunderland and Its Vicinity - Volumes 5-7, page 73
- "Then you're not - " "Darling," I said, "do you really see me in the position of a seigneur, driving my serfs and villeins before me with a whip - even if the triffids haven't overrun me first?"1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 269
Forms of villein
| plural | villeins |
|---|---|
| alternative form (archaic) | villain |
Origin of villein
From Anglo-Norman vilein, variant of vilain; from Medieval Latin villanus (“field hand”), from Latin villa (“country home”). Doublet of villain.
Words formed from villein
Words that rhyme with villein
Questions about villein
- What does villein mean?
- Villein means a feudal tenant, a serf.
- What part of speech is villein?
- Villein is a noun.
- How do you pronounce villein?
- Villein is pronounced /ˈvɪlən/.
- What is the plural of villein?
- The plural of villein is villeins.
Words near villein in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: villein (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “villein.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/villein. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.