different between servant vs hireling

English

Alternative forms

• servaunt, servand (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French servant, from the present participle of the verb servir. Doublet of sergeant and servient.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??v?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?v?nt/, [?s?vn??]
• Rhymes: -??(?)v?nt

Noun

servant (plural servants)

1. One who is hired to perform regular household or other duties, and receives compensation. As opposed to a slave.
2. One who serves another, providing help in some manner.

3. (religion) A person who dedicates themselves to God.
4. (dated) A professed lover.
5. A person of low condition or spirit.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

servant (third-person singular simple present servants, present participle servanting, simple past and past participle servanted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To subject.

Anagrams

• starven, taverns, versant

French

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French servant, a substantivized present participle of servir. Cf. also Latin serviens, and French sergent.

Pronunciation

Verb

servant

1. present participle of servir

Noun

servant m (plural servants, feminine servante)

1. servant

Derived terms

• chevalier servant

Related terms

• serveur, serveuse

Further reading

• “servant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• versant

Latin

Verb

servant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of serv?

Middle English

Etymology

Old French servant, originally the present participle of servir

Noun

servant (plural servants)

1. servant

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

servant m (definite singular servanten, indefinite plural servanter, definite plural servantene)

1. a washbasin
2. a sink

Synonyms

• vask
• vaskeservant

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

servant m (definite singular servanten, indefinite plural servantar, definite plural servantane)

1. a washbasin
2. a sink

Synonyms

• vaskeservant

Old French

Verb

servant

1. present participle of servir

Adjective

servant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular servant or servante)

1. that serves; that fulfils a role

Noun

servant m (oblique plural servanz or servantz, nominative singular servanz or servantz, nominative plural servant)

1. servant (one who serves)

Descendants

• ? English: servant
• French: servant

English

Etymology

From Middle English hirlyng, from Old English h?rling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-West Germanic *h??ijuling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling,German Heuerling.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ha?.?.l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?ha???l??/

Noun

hireling (plural hirelings)

1. (usually derogatory) An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence.
   • 1611, King James Version, Job 7:1:

     Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

   • 1848: William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 19:

     When my poor James was in the smallpox, did I allow any hireling to nurse him?

2. (usually derogatory) Someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself.
   • 1605: Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning

     ... it may be truly affirmed that no kind of men love business for itself but those that are learned; for other persons love it for profit, as a hireling that loves the work for the wages;

   • 1821, Lord Byron, Sardanapalus, Act II, sc. 1:

     These vain bickerings

     Are spawn'd in courts by base intrigues and baser

     Hirelings, who live by lies on good men's lives.

3. A horse for hire.
   • 1934, Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust, Chapter 3, Section 5:

     In the afternoon they went to a neighbouring livery stables to look for hirellings.

4. (obsolete) A prostitute.

Synonyms

• flunky
• lackey
• mercenary

Translations

See also

• underling