Fetters

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A physical restraint, typically shackles or chains, used to secure someone's movement
2. An interlocking device that restricts freedom, especially of action or thought
3. A metaphorical binding that limits one's ability to act freely or make choices

Etymology: The most striking thing about "fetters" is that the chains are named after walking. Its root, reconstructed as "ped-", meant "to step, walk," and the same root gave English "foot." The Germanic ancestor "feturaz" was a word for the restraint placed on a walker's feet, so a fetter was, at its core, something that hobbled the stride. The root also spread in unexpected directions. Ancient Greek "pedē" meant "fetter, shackle" as well as "anklet" and "bangle," and Latin "peior" ("worse") is a distant relative, presumably from the sense of a hobbled walker being worse off. Old Persian used a related form for "foot soldier." In English, the word appeared in Middle English as "feter" and descended from Old English "feter," with the plural "fetters" simply marking the paired chains that bound both ankles. As a verb, to fetter means to chain someone's feet or to restrict their freedom, so the modern figurative sense of being held back by something carries the original image of a stride stopped short.

Synonyms: shackles, restraints, manacles, bonds, chains

Antonyms: freedom, release, liberation