chattel
Etymology
From Middle English chatel, from Old French chatel, from Medieval Latin capitāle (English capital), from Latin capitālis (“of the head”), from caput (“head”) + -alis (“-al”). Compare the doublet cattle (“cows”), which is from an Anglo-Norman variant. Compare also capital and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”.
noun
-
Tangible, movable property. […] although of course the firm had changed hands many times over the centuries, […] But the box has always been part of the chattels, as it were. 1990, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, Corgi, page 387 -
A slave. Not all his servants and chattels are wraiths! 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring [Book 2, Chapter 1 - Many Meetings]
Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/chattel), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.