chattel

play

noun chat·tel \ ˈcha-tᵊl \

Definition of chattel

1 :an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate and things (such as buildings) connected with real property

2 :slave, bondman

slaveholders who were determined to hold on to their human chattel

See chattel defined for English-language learners

See chattel defined for kids

Examples of chattel in a Sentence

at one time, the children of black slaves were also considered chattel
packed up all her chattels and moved to a new state

Recent Examples of chattel from the Web

At the moment, the brawl is over memorials to the men who fought for the Confederate States of America, a treasonous offshoot of the United States of America that formed itself around the defense of chattel slavery.

— charles p. pierce, SI.com, "Sports, Like The Rest Of The U.S., Still Struggles With Legacy Of Racism," 29 Aug. 2017
These statues were put up in the first place to sanitize the history of the men who fought to maintain chattel slavery and the men who later re-established white supremacy in the old Confederacy.

— charles p. pierce, Esquire, "Removing Confederate Statues Isn't Sanitizing History—It's Fumigating History," 17 Aug. 2017
Some slave owners used the peach harvest as a kind of festival for their chattel, and runaways provisioned their secret journeys in untended orchards.

— william thomas okie, Smithsonian, "The Fuzzy History of the Georgia Peach," 14 Aug. 2017
As Daenerys reminded the audience in Sunday night's episode, she was traded like chattel by her opportunistic brother Viserys.

— eliana dockterman, Time, "10 Reasons Jon Snow and Daenerys Might End Up Together on Game of Thrones Even Though It’s Kind of Weird," 1 Aug. 2017
The discovery led to efforts to dismantle a multimillion-dollar smuggling enterprise, and the traffickers soon abandoned their human chattel in jungle camps or in crowded vessels adrift in the Andaman Sea.

— ryn jirenuwat and russell goldman, New York Times, "Dozens Found Guilty in Thailand in Human-Trafficking Case," 19 July 2017
Gov. Mike Stack and his wife of security details and domestic staff amid allegations the Stacks treated them like chattel.

— john baer, Philly.com, "Baer: A good idea from Mike Stack's mess," 13 June 2017
Pulido was certainly enslaved, but not as chattel who could be bought and sold.

— vicente rafael, The Atlantic, "Lola’s Resistant Dignity," 31 May 2017
Women are considered little more than baby-making chattel in many nations, the ones that most need lower populations.

— jon talton, The Seattle Times, "The economics of 7.5 billion people on one planet," 17 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chattel.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

What is the Difference Between chattel and slave?

The word chattel is encountered in two main senses. The earlier of the two is primarily technical and refers to property, specifically property that is distinct from real estate holdings. The second meaning of chattel can excite considerable emotion, as it refers to humans as property, i.e., slaves. Chattel, slave and the less common bondman and thrall are all synonyms for a person held in servitude by another. Chattel and cattle both come to English from the same source: each is descended from the Medieval Latin word capitale, which itself traces to the Latin caput meaning “head.”

Origin and Etymology of chattel

Middle English chatel property, from Anglo-French — more at cattle

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

chattel Synonyms

Synonyms

bondman (also bondsman), slave, thrall

Antonyms

freeman

Related Words

bondwoman (also bondswoman), odalisque; helot, serf; bond servant, indentured servant; attendant, domestic, drudge, handmaiden (also handmaid), lackey, menial, servant, slavey

Near Antonyms

freedman, freedwoman; enslaver, slave driver, slaveholder, slaver; master, taskmaster

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

CHATTEL Defined for English Language Learners

chattel

play

noun

Definition of chattel for English Language Learners

: something (such as a slave, piece of furniture, tool, etc.) that a person owns other than land or buildings

Law Dictionary

chattel

play

noun chat·tel \ ˈchat-ᵊl \

legal Definition of chattel

:an item of tangible or intangible personal property; especially :chattel personal in this entry

Note: In some jurisdictions the term chattel is restricted to items of tangible and movable personal property. Other jurisdictions also classify intangible assets and property items as chattels.

— chattel personal plural chattels personal

:an item of tangible movable personal property (as livestock or an automobile) that is not permanently connected with real estate

— chattel real plural chattels real

:an interest (as a leasehold or profit a prendre) in an item of immovable property (as land or a building) that is less than a freehold estate — compare fixture

Note: Interests that are considered chattels real have been treated by the common law as personal property despite being interests in real property.