Other forms: servants
A servant is somebody employed to work in another person's household. A loyal servant, servants' quarters, the servant answered.
Being a servant was the largest single occupation in Britain until the First World War, and it collapsed within two generations. The word survives in civil servant and public servant, where it means an employee of the state. Note serve beneath it, and sergeant, which is the same word.
1nounservantSomebody employed to work in another's household.
“In the big house, the servants slept in small rooms at the top of the stairs.”
servant is an employee.
Old French servant is the present participle of servir, to serve, from Latin servire. Sergeant is a doublet.
Old French
servant
Middle English
servaunt
English, today
servant
From Middle English servaunt, from Old French servant, from the present participle of the verb servir. a doublet of sergeant and servient. Morphologically serve + -ant. Displaced native þeġn.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA