Etymologically
Log in

service

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 02:42. This address is a permanent link to this version.
← Previous version Changes in this edit History

English has two words spelled service: the common word for serving, from Latin servitium “slavery”, and the name of a European tree, from Old English syrfe.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈsɜː.vɪs/, US /ˈsɝː.vɪs/[4]

service1 serving, work, help

Etymology

The common word is inherited from Middle English servise, late Old English serfise,[3][2][5] borrowed from Old French servise (“homage, servitude, service at table, Mass”),[3][6] from Latin servitium (“slavery, servitude; slaves collectively”),[3][6][7] from servus (“slave”), the source also of serve and servant.[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Public religious worship according to a set form, about 1100.[3][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The meanings “the act of serving, the work of a servant” and “help, a helpful act” date from about 1200,[3] “labour done for another” and “the state of being bound to serve” from the mid-13th century.[3] About 1300 service also meant employment at court or in government, and military service, especially by a knight, hence “the armed forces” as an occupation (1706).[3] At table it meant the provision of food and the sequence of dishes (about 1300), and then the dishes and utensils themselves (mid 15th century), as in tea service.[3] The supply of gas, water or electricity is a service by 1879, extended to broadcasting in 1927,[3] and help given by sellers to buyers by 1919.[3] The Middle English verb servisen “to serve as a knight” (about 1300) died with the feudal system.[3] The modern verb, “to provide with a service” (1893), is probably a new formation,[3] “to maintain and repair” is from 1926, and “to pay interest on a debt” from 1942.[3][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – public worship.[3]
  • c. 1200 – the work of a servant; help.[3]
  • c. 1300 – court and military service; the serving of food.[3]
  • mid 15th century – a set of dishes.[3]
  • 1706 – the armed forces as an occupation.[3]
  • 1879 – a supply of gas, water or electricity.[3]
  • 1893 – verb, to provide with a service.[3][9]
  • 1926 – verb, to maintain and repair.[3][9]
  • 1942 – verb, to pay interest on a debt.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Work done for others; employment, especially for a government.
  2. The armed forces, or a branch of them.
  3. An act of help or assistance.
  4. A religious ceremony, or a form of liturgy.
  5. A system supplying a public need, such as transport, water or electricity.
  6. Attendance on customers, as in a shop or restaurant.
  7. A set of dishes or utensils: a tea service.
  8. In tennis and similar games, the act of serving the ball.

Verb

  1. To maintain or repair: service a car.
  2. To provide services to.
  3. To pay interest on (a debt).

Word family

  • serviceable
  • serviceman
  • servicewoman
  • unserviced

service2 tree

Etymology

The tree is an extended form, originally a plural, of obsolete serve “the service tree”,[3][10][2] inherited from Middle English serves, plural of serve,[7] inherited from Old English syrfe,[3][10][7] from Vulgar Latin *sorbea, from Latin sorbus (“service tree”) (see sorb).[3][10][7] Chambers suggests instead Latin cerevisia, a cider-like drink made from the fruit.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A European tree related to the mountain ash, and its fruit, recorded in 1530.[9][7][3]

Semantic evolution

Its small pear-shaped or round fruit is eaten when overripe.[2] The wild service is a related tree with bitter fruit (1741).[9][2] The serviceberry is recorded from the 1570s and service tree from about 1600;[3] in North America serviceberry names a different shrub.[9]

Timeline

  • 1530 – the tree and its fruit.[9][7]
  • 1570s – service-berry.[3]
  • c. 1600 – service tree.[3]
  • 1741 – wild service.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A European tree related to the mountain ash, with small edible fruit; the service tree.
  2. The fruit of this tree.

Word family

  • service tree
  • serviceberry
  • serve
  • servant
  • servile
  • servitude
  • sorb

References

  1. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
  2. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press