serf

1、serf 是被绑在土地上的人——农奴。它同样出自拉丁 servus「奴隶」，只是后来专指欧洲大陆那种种地、不能离开土地的人。
2、和 servant 对照记：servant 是仆人（可以走），serf 是农奴（走不了）；同族还有 servile 奴性的、serfdom 农奴制（serf + -dom 表状态）。
3、serf 和 surf(冲浪) 是完全一样的音标 /sɜːf/，只能靠拼写和上下文区分，读的时候不用纠结。

serf 农奴

来自 serve 的名词形式，比较 proof,prove.用于指农奴。

serf (n.)

late 15c., "servant, serving-man, slave," from Old French serf "vassal, servant, slave" (12c.), from Latin servum (nominative servus) "slave" (see serve). Fallen from use in original sense by 18c. Meaning "lowest class of cultivators of the soil in continental European countries" is from 1610s. Use by modern writers with reference to medieval Europeans first recorded 1761 (contemporary Anglo-Latin records used nativus, villanus, or servus).

1. The serf - owners had the right to beat , abuse or even kill the serfs at will.

(那时) 农奴主 有权任意打骂甚至杀害农奴.

2. In the Middle Ages, a lord and a serf had very different places in life.

中世纪, 农奴主和农奴在生活中是两个截然不同的阶级.

3. This movement overthrew the serf system and freed a million serfs and slaves.

这一运动推翻了农奴制,并且解放了百万农奴和奴隶.

4. This decentralized economic system relied on the legal immobility of the serf.

这种分散的经济制度依赖于农奴在法律上的固定性.

5. The serf was trod to death.

这个农奴被蹂躏致死.