chattel

[chat-l]

noun

1. Law.,  Often chattels a movable article of personal property.

2. Often chattels any article of tangible property other than land, buildings, and other things annexed to land.

3. a human being considered to be property; an enslaved person.

chattel

/ ˈtʃætəl /

noun

1. (often plural) property law

   1. an item of movable personal property, such as furniture, domestic animals, etc

   2. an interest in land less than a freehold, such as a lease

2. personal property

Word History and Origins

Origin of chattel¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English chatel, from Old French; cattle

Word History and Origins

Origin of chattel¹

C13: from Old French chatel personal property, from Medieval Latin capitāle wealth; see _capital ¹

Synonym Study

See property.

Example Sentences

The roughly 400-year-old specimen of spreading and enveloping branches was just a sapling at chattel slavery’s 1619 arrival in North America.

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But again, these chapters codify the Black American experience as one defined by pain and primarily linked to chattel slavery.

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Among Wilson’s controversies are comments he made about chattel slavery in the 1990s, when he claimed there was a “mutual affection between master and slave.”

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Around 43% of mobile homes are secured with personal property loans, or “chattel” loans, in which the only collateral used against the loan is the asset itself.

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White Christian Nationalism supported White-on-Black chattel slavery and saw it as part of the “civilizing” mission for Christians.

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