Bondslave

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbɒndsleɪv/

Definitions

1. A person held in a state of servitude or bondage to another, compelled to labor without freedom or compensation
2. A human being compelled into perpetual servitude and forced labor through legal or forceful constraint, entirely subject to another's ownership and control
3. Someone bound by law or coercion into lifelong involuntary servitude with no personal liberty or right to compensation for their toil

Etymology: "Bondslave" is a plain compound: "bond," meaning a person held in servitude or bondage, joined to "slave." The two halves reinforce one another, since "bond" in its older sense of a bondman or serf already described a dependent who could not leave, and "slave" added the sense of a person owned outright. Together they name someone whose servitude is both legally fixed and inherited through the condition of their status. The compound is transparent enough that its meaning can be read straight from its parts, and it belongs to the same family of English words describing forced labour, such as "bondage" and "bondman." The word is best understood as a descriptive coinage built from existing English materials rather than a term with a long, shifting history of its own.

Synonyms: serf, servant

Antonyms: master