slave

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#SLAVECategory:English terms derived from Middle English#SLAVE sclave, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#SLAVE sclave, from Medieval LatinCategory:English terms derived from Medieval Latin#SLAVE sclavus (“slave”), from Late LatinCategory:English terms derived from Late Latin#SLAVE Sclavus (“Slav”), traditionally assumed to be because Slavs were often forced into slavery in the Middle Ages.[1][2][3][4][5] The Latin word is from Byzantine GreekCategory:English terms derived from Byzantine Greek#SLAVE Σκλάβος (Sklábos); see that entry and Slav for more. Displaced native Old English þēow. Thrall and bondsman/bondswoman, however, remain common synonyms. Doublet of ciao and SlavCategory:English doublets#SLAVE.

An alternative hypothesis derives sclavus from Ancient GreekCategory:English terms derived from Ancient Greek#SLAVE σκῡλεύω (skūleúō), σκῡλάω (skūláō, “to strip or despoil a slain enemy”).[6][7][8][9]

Pronunciation

Noun

slave (plural slaves)Category:English lemmas#SLAVECategory:English nouns#SLAVECategory:English countable nouns#SLAVECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. A person who is held in servitude as the property of another person, and whose labor (and often also whose body and life) is subject to the owner's volition and control.
    • 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 9:
      Fear of their cargo bred a savage cruelty into the crew. One captain, to strike terror into the rest, killed a slave and dividing heart, liver and entrails into 300 pieces made each of the slaves eat one, threatening those who refused with the same torture. Such incidents were not rare.
      Category:English terms with quotations#SLAVE
  2. (figuratively) A drudge; one who labors or is obliged (e.g. by prior contract) to labor like a slave with limited rights, e.g. an indentured servant.
  3. (figuratively) An abject person.
    Synonym: wretch
  4. (figuratively) One who has no power of resistance to something, one who surrenders to or is under the domination of something.
    a slave to passion, to strong drink, or to ambition
    Category:English terms with usage examples#SLAVE
  5. (BDSMCategory:en:BDSM#SLAVE) A submissive partner in a BDSM relationship who consensually submits to, sexually or personally, serving one or more masters or mistresses.
    Hypernym: sub
    • [2016, Ariane Cruz, The Color of Kink: Black Women, BDSM, and Pornography, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 39:
      In the clip the black female “slave” dons a chain around her neck for which her white mistress possesses the key. The black woman sub is further disciplined by the power of speech—the force of silence.]
      Category:English terms with quotations#SLAVE
  6. A sex slave, a person who is forced against their will to perform, for another person or group, sexual acts on a regular or continuing basis.
  7. (engineeringCategory:en:Engineering#SLAVE, computingCategory:en:Computing#SLAVE, photographyCategory:en:Photography#SLAVE) A device (such as a secondary flash or hard drive) that is subject to the control of another (a master).
    Synonyms: secondary, worker
    Antonyms: master, primary
    • 2011, Roderick W. Smith, LPIC-2 Linux Professional Institute Certification Study Guide, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:
      If you administer your own reverse DNS zones, remember to include them in your slave configuration.
      Category:English terms with quotations#SLAVE

Usage notes

  • In the technical sense increasingly replaced with less-charged terms such as secondary, worker etc.

Alternative forms

Hyponyms

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

slave (third-person singular simple present slaves, present participle slaving, simple past and past participle slaved)Category:English lemmas#SLAVECategory:English verbs#SLAVECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. To work as a slaver, to enslave people.
    • 1606, John Marston, The Wonder of Women:
      MASSINISSA: Wilt thou be slaved?
      SOPHONISBA: No, free
      Category:English terms with quotations#SLAVE
      Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
    • 1908, James Wells, Stewart of Lovedale: The Life of James Stewart, D.D., M.D., Hon. F.R.G.S., page 88:
      The truth is from the Zambesi to Lake Nyasa on the north and east banks of the river, there is nothing but slaving — Africans selling each other . . .
      Category:English terms with quotations#SLAVE
      Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
    • 2011, David Eltis, Keith Bradley, Paul Cartledge, The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 3, AD 1420-AD 1804, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 128:
      Despite these examples, the majority of enslaved Africans were not able to rely on rulers for help against slaving. Africans living in chiefdoms and villages ruled by allied African authorities were, however, able to use the legal system (Tribunal of Mukanos) in place in the regions under formal Portuguese control […]
      Category:English terms with quotations#SLAVE
    • 2016, Thomas Arcaro, Rosemary Haskell, Chinedu Eke, Robert Anderson, Stephen Braye, Ann Cahill, Brian Digre, Anne Bolin, Mathew Gendle, Duane McClearn, Jeffrey Pugh, Laura Roselle, Jean Schwind, Kerstin Sorensen, Anthony Weston, Understanding the Global Experience: Becoming a Responsible World Citizen, Routledge, →ISBN:
      With ready access to firearms through trade, the slaving Africans held a distinct upper-hand over the groups they preyed upon, which were often politically and socially weakened or destroyed by the trade.
      Category:English terms with quotations#SLAVE
    • 2016, Alistair Paterson, A Millennium of Cultural Contact, Routledge, →ISBN, page 117:
      Significant impacts resulted from slaving; there is evidence of how communities dealt with the threat and benefits of slaving. Africans provided most of the slaves to European slavers. Most slaves were created either to settle debts or raise funds, through warfare, or as punishment for a real or perceived crime.
      Category:English terms with quotations#SLAVE
  2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#SLAVE) To work hard.
    I was slaving all day over a hot stove.
    Category:English terms with usage examples#SLAVE
  3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#SLAVE) To place a device under the control of another.
    to slave a hard disk
    Category:English terms with usage examples#SLAVE

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ↑ “slave”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  2. ↑ “slave”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  3. ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “slave”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  4. 1 2 “slave, n.1 (and a.)” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989
  5. ↑ Friedrich Kluge (1899), “Sklave”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 6th edition, Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, page 366
  6. ↑ Korth, Georg (1970), “Zur Etymologie des Wortes 'Slavus' (Sklave)”, in Glotta: Zeitschrift fur Griechische und Lateinische Sprache‎ (in German), volume 48, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pages 145–153
  7. ↑ Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Sklave”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 676
  8. ↑ Köbler, Gerhard (1995), “Sklave”, in Deutsches Etymologisches Rechtswörterbuch‎ (in German), Tübingen: Mohr, →ISBN, page 371
  9. ↑ Scholten, Daniel (2020), “Sklave und Slawe”, in Deutsch für Dichter und Denker: Unsere Muttersprache in neuem Licht‎, Bright Star Books, →ISBN

Further reading

Anagrams

Category:en:Occupations#SLAVECategory:en:People#SLAVECategory:en:Slavery#SLAVECategory:en:Stock characters#SLAVE

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from GermanCategory:Danish terms borrowed from German#SLAVECategory:Danish terms derived from German#SLAVE Sklave, from LatinCategory:Danish terms derived from Latin#SLAVE sclavus, whence also slaverCategory:Danish doublets#SLAVE.

Pronunciation

Noun

slave c (singular definite slaven, plural indefinite slaver)Category:Danish lemmas#SLAVECategory:Danish nouns#SLAVECategory:Danish entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Danish common-gender nouns#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. slave
    Synonym: træl

Inflection

Declension of slave
common
gender		 singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative slave slaven slaver slaverne
genitive slaves slavens slavers slavernes

Derived terms

Verb

slave (imperative slav, infinitive at slave, present tense slaver, past tense slavede, perfect tense har slavet)Category:Danish lemmas#SLAVECategory:Danish verbs#SLAVECategory:Danish entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. slave
    Synonym: trælle

Esperanto

Etymology

From slavo +‎ -eCategory:Esperanto terms suffixed with -e#SLAVE.

Pronunciation

Adverb

slaveCategory:Esperanto lemmas#SLAVECategory:Esperanto adverbs#SLAVECategory:Esperanto entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. In a Slavic language; Slavically
    • 2002 November, La Ondo de Esperanto‎:
      La komparo estus interesa okupo por iu ajn scipovanta slave: ĉu unu lingvon, ĉu kelkajn, sed eĉ senkomprene oni povas perokule enoreligi al si la melodion de la kroata originalo.
      The comparison would be an interesting activity for anyone knowledgeable in Slavic languages: whether one language or a few, but even without understanding a person can visually bring the melody of the Croatian original into their ears.
      Category:Esperanto terms with quotations#SLAVE
    • 2002 March 12, Michael Wolf, “Re: Geografia demando: Vendia”, in soc.culture.esperanto (Usenet):
      La plej norda loko estis la duoninsulo Rügen (slave: Rujana) kaj la plej suda en suda (Supra) Luzacio.
      The northernmost place was the Rügen peninsula (Slavically: Rujana) and the southernmost in southern (Upper) Lusatia.
      Category:Esperanto terms with quotations#SLAVE
    • 2004 July 19, Rafi, “Re: Lingva demando al fakuloj - evoluo de Esperanto”, in soc.culture.esperanto (Usenet):
      En la angla estas vortoj diversdevenaj (france, ghermane, slave, arabe, ...). Same en multaj lingvoj.
      In English there are words of diverse origin (from French, Germanic, Slavic, Arabic, ...). It's the same in many languages.
      Category:Esperanto terms with quotations#SLAVE

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle FrenchCategory:French terms inherited from Middle French#SLAVECategory:French terms derived from Middle French#SLAVE Sclave, from Medieval LatinCategory:French terms derived from Medieval Latin#SLAVE Sclavus, from Byzantine GreekCategory:French terms derived from Byzantine Greek#SLAVE Σκλάβος (Sklábos), which see for more. Doublet of esclaveCategory:French doublets#SLAVE.

Pronunciation

Adjective

slave (plural slaves)Category:French lemmas#SLAVECategory:French adjectives#SLAVECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. Slav, Slavic
    Les langues slaves. ― The Slavic languages.Category:French terms with usage examples#SLAVE

Derived terms

Noun

slave m (uncountable)Category:French lemmas#SLAVECategory:French nouns#SLAVECategory:French uncountable nouns#SLAVECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:French masculine nouns#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. a Slavic language
    Avant le IXe siècle, on présume que les Slaves partageaient tous une langue à peu près identique appelée le slave commun, mais aucun écrit avant 860 ne peut le prouver.
    Before the 9th century, it is believed that the Slavs all shared a nearly identical language, termed Common Slavic, but no writing before 860 can attest to this.
    Category:French terms with usage examples#SLAVE

References

Further reading

Anagrams

Italian

Pronunciation

Adjective

slaveCategory:Italian non-lemma forms#SLAVECategory:Italian adjective forms#SLAVECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. feminine plural of slavo

Noun

slave fCategory:Italian non-lemma forms#SLAVECategory:Italian noun forms#SLAVECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. plural of slava

Anagrams

Latvian

Noun

slave fCategory:Latvian lemmas#SLAVECategory:Latvian nouns#SLAVECategory:Latvian entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Latvian feminine nouns#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVECategory:Latvian feminine nouns#SLAVE (5th declension)

  1. (dialectalCategory:Latvian dialectal terms#SLAVE) fame, glory; alternative form of slava

Declension

Declension of slave (5th declension)
singular plural
nominative slave —
genitive slaves —
dative slavei —
accusative slavi —
instrumental slavi —
locative slavē —
vocative slave —
Category:Latvian fifth declension nounsCategory:Latvian noun forms

Middle English

Noun

slaveCategory:Middle English lemmas#SLAVECategory:Middle English nouns#SLAVECategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. alternative form of sclave

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

slave m (definite singular slaven, indefinite plural slaver, definite plural slavene)Category:Norwegian Bokmål lemmas#SLAVECategory:Norwegian Bokmål nouns#SLAVECategory:Norwegian Bokmål entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Norwegian Bokmål masculine nouns#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. slave

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

slave m (definite singular slaven, indefinite plural slavar, definite plural slavane)Category:Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas#SLAVECategory:Norwegian Nynorsk nouns#SLAVECategory:Norwegian Nynorsk entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Norwegian Nynorsk masculine nouns#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. slave

Derived terms

References

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

slave (Cyrillic spelling славе)Category:Serbo-Croatian non-lemma forms#SLAVECategory:Serbo-Croatian verb forms#SLAVECategory:Requests for accents in Serbo-Croatian verb form entries#SLAVECategory:Serbo-Croatian entries with incorrect language header#SLAVECategory:Pages with entries#SLAVECategory:Pages with 10 entries#SLAVE

  1. third-person plural present of slaviti
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