chattel

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English

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”.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃæt.l̩/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ætəl

Noun

chattel (plural chattels)

  1. Tangible, movable property.
    • 1990, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, Corgi, page 387:
      […] 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.
  2. A slave.
    • 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
      Not all his servants and chattels are wraiths!

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