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villein

American  
[vil-uhn, -eyn, vi-leyn] / ˈvɪl ən, -eɪn, vɪˈleɪn /

noun

  1. a member of a class of partially free persons under the feudal system, who were serfs with respect to their lord but had the rights and privileges of freemen with respect to others.

villein British  
/ ˈvɪlən /

noun

  1. (in medieval Europe) a peasant personally bound to his lord, to whom he paid dues and services, sometimes commuted to rents, in return for his land

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of villein

Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; villain

Vocabulary lists containing villein

Medieval Europe - Introductory

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Medieval Europe - Middle School

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Medieval Europe - High School

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Instead of a national debt, there is an accumulated surplus of $220 for each vassal, serf and villein.

From Time Magazine Archive

It wasn’t his fault — a villein only gets what the lord lets him keep, and our lord was tightfisted.

From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz

A villein who ran away and lived in town for a year and a day gained his freedom.

From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz

If a villein inherited enough strips of land to support his family, or if he was lucky enough to serve an honest and generous lord, he might live in relative comfort.

From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz

Only neither the villein nor the farm labourer starved, when the master was a man like Sir Ector.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.