feudal

Definition

Of, or relating to feudalism.

Etymology

From Old French feodal, from Medieval Latin feodalis, from feodum, feudum, fevum (“fief, fee”), from Frankish *fehu (“cattle, owndom, property, fee”), from Proto-Germanic *fehu (“cattle”). By surface analysis, feud (“estate”) + -al. More at fee.

Example Sentences

• "And the birth of nations implies many artifices: Not only are they constituted in an active struggle against the imperial or evolved systems, the feudal systems, and the autonomous cities, but they crush their own "minorities," in other words, minoritarian phenomena that could be termed "nationalitarian," which work from within and if need be turn to the old codes to find a greater degree of freedom."