Standard Lemma guide

feudalism

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈfju.də.lɪ.zəm/
  • [ˈfju.də.lɪ.zm̩]
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F Y UW1 D AH0 L IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A social system based on personal ownership of resources and personal fealty between a suzerain (lord) and a vassal (subject). Defining characteristics are direct ownership of resources, personal loyalty, and a hierarchical social structure reinforced by religion.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the social system that developed in Europe in the 8th century; vassals were protected by lords who they had to serve in war

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: feudal system

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: social organization, social organisation, social structure, social system, structure

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English feudal Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English feudalism From feudal + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

60 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: إِقْطَاعِيَّة (ʔiqṭāʕiyya) — social system
  • Armenian: ֆեոդալիզմ (feodalizm) — social system
  • Armenian: ավատատիրություն (avatatirutʻyun) — social system
  • Azerbaijani: feodalizm — social system
  • Azerbaijani: dərəbəylik — social system
  • Bashkir: феодализм (feodalizm) — social system
  • Belarusian: феадалі́зм (fjeadalízm) — social system
  • Bengali: সামন্ততন্ত্র (samôntôtôntrô) — social system
  • Catalan: feudalisme — social system
  • Chinese Mandarin: 封建制度 (fēngjiàn zhìdù) — social system
  • Czech: feudalismus — social system
  • Danish: feudalisme — social system
  • Danish: lenssystem — social system
  • Dutch: feodalisme — social system
  • Dutch: leenstelsel — social system
  • Esperanto: feŭdismo — social system
  • Finnish: feodalismi — social system
  • French: féodalisme — social system
  • Georgian: ფეოდალიზმი (peodalizmi) — social system
  • German: Feudalismus — social system
  • Greek: φεουδαρχία (feoudarchía) — social system
  • Greek: δουλοπαροικία (douloparoikía) — social system
  • Hungarian: feudalizmus — social system
  • Icelandic: lénsskipulag — social system
  • Icelandic: lénskerfi — social system
  • Icelandic: lénsveldi — social system
  • Indonesian: feodalisme — social system
  • Japanese: 封建制度 (hōken seido) — social system
  • Kazakh: феодализм (feodalizm) — social system
  • Korean: 봉건제도 (bonggeonjedo) — social system
  • Latin: feudalismus — social system
  • Latvian: feodālisms — social system
  • Lithuanian: feodalizmas — social system
  • Macedonian: феудали́зам (feudalízam) — social system
  • Malay: feudalisme — social system
  • Norwegian Bokmål: føydalisme — social system
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: føydalisme — social system
  • Persian: فئودالیسم — social system
  • Polish: feudalizm — social system
  • Portuguese: feudalismo — social system
  • Punjabi: ਸਾਮੰਤਵਾਦ (sāmantvād) — social system
  • Romanian: feudalism — social system
  • Romanian: orânduire feudală — social system
  • Russian: феодали́зм (feodalízm) — social system
  • Russian: феода́льный строй (feodálʹnyj stroj) — social system
  • Serbo-Croatian: феудалѝзам — social system
  • Serbo-Croatian: feudalìzam — social system
  • Slovak: feudalizmus — social system
  • Slovene: fevdalizem — social system
  • Spanish: feudalismo — social system
  • Swahili: ukabaila — social system
  • Swedish: feodalism — social system
  • Tagalog: pagkamalaalipin — social system
  • Turkish: feodalizm — social system
  • Turkish: feodalite — social system
  • Turkish: derebeylik — social system
  • Ukrainian: феодалі́зм (feodalízm) — social system
  • Vietnamese: chế độ phong kiến — social system
  • Welsh: ffiwdaliaeth — social system
  • Welsh: trefn ffiwdal — social system
Real reading context

feudalism in complete knowledge articles