different between lackey vs servile

English

Alternative forms

• lacquey, lacky

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French laquais, which is probably (via Old Occitan lacai?) from Spanish lacayo, itself perhaps from Italian lacchè and Greek ????? (lakés), from Turkish ulak. Another possibility is through French, from Catalan alacay, from Arabic ??????????? (al-q???, “magistrate”). See French laquais.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?læ.ki/
• Rhymes: -æki

Noun

lackey (plural lackeys)

1. A footman, a liveried male servant.
   • 1820, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer, volume 1, page 198:

     My dearest father,—I say nothing of them,—but I dare to speak of myself,—I can never be a monk,—if that is your object—spurn me,—order your lacqueys to drag me from this carriage,—leave me a beggar in the streets to cry “fire and water,”—but do not make me a monk.
2. A fawning, servile follower.

   Synonyms: lickspittle; see also Thesaurus:loyal follower

Derived terms

• lackey caterpillar
• lackey moth

Translations

Verb

lackey (third-person singular simple present lackeys, present participle lackeying, simple past and past participle lackeyed)

1. (transitive) To attend, wait upon, serve obsequiously.
   • ca. 1607, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, sc. 3:

     [T]he ebbed man, ne'er loved till ne'er worth love,

     Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,

     Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,

     Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,

     To rot itself with motion.

   • 1634, John Milton. Comus:

     So dear to Heav'n is Saintly chastity,

     That when a soul is found sincerely so,

     A thousand liveried Angels lacky her ...

2. (intransitive, obsolete) To toady, play the flunky.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “lackey”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Ackley

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin serv?lis, from servus (“slave”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?s??(?).?va?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s??.v?l/, /?s??.?va?l/

Adjective

servile (comparative more servile, superlative most servile)

1. of or pertaining to a slave.
2. submissive or slavish.

3. (grammar) Not belonging to the original root.

4. (grammar) Not sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceding vowel, like the e in tune.

Antonyms

• (submissive or slavish): authoritarian, arrogant

Derived terms

• servility

Related terms

• serve
• servant
• slave

Translations

Noun

servile (plural serviles)

1. (grammar) An element which forms no part of the original root.
2. A slave; a menial.

Antonyms

• radical

Anagrams

• leviers, relives, reviles, veilers

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin serv?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??.vil/

Adjective

servile (plural serviles)

1. servile, slavish, subservient

Related terms

• serf
• servilement
• servilité
• servir

Further reading

• “servile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• leviers, lièvres, livrées

Italian

Etymology

From Latin serv?lis.

Adjective

servile

1. servile

Related terms

• servire
• servitù
• servo

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ser?u?i?.le/, [s??r?u?i????]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ser?vi.le/, [s?r?vi?l?]

Etymology 1

Neuter adverbial accusative use of serv?lis (“servile, slavish”).

Adverb

serv?le (not comparable)

1. (rare) like a slave, slavishly, servilely

Synonyms

• serv?liter

Etymology 2

Adjective

serv?le

1. nominative neuter singular of serv?lis
2. accusative neuter singular of serv?lis
3. vocative neuter singular of serv?lis