feudalism

English

Etymology

From feudal +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfju.də.lɪ.zəm/, [ˈfju.də.lɪ.zm̩]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

feudalism (countable and uncountable, plural feudalisms)

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.
   • 1921, Emerson Hough, The Passing of the Frontier: A Chronicle of the Old West, page 34:

     It was the beginning of a feudalism of the range, a barony rude enough, but a glorious one, albeit it began, like all feudalism, in large-handed theft and generous murdering.

   • 2003, Ian Douglas, Richard John Hugget, Companion Encyclopedia of Geography, page 212:

     The re-emergence of empire was thwarted by immense topographical variety, coastal confolutions, and wide-openness to the east, which made Christendom difficult to organize and defend as a whole from Viking, barbarian and Islamic attacks round its perimeter; by natural temperateness, which rendered large-scale disasters needing widespread rescue of populations rare (Jones 1981); and by the very devolved political system represented by feudalism, which encouraged the fissipation of whatever larger units did develop.

Related terms

• feudal
• feudalistic

Translations

social system

• Arabic: إِقْطَاعِيَّة f (ʔiqṭāʕiyya)
• Armenian: ֆեոդալիզմ (hy) (feodalizm), ավատատիրություն (hy) (avatatirutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: feodalizm
• Bashkir: феодализм (feodalizm)
• Catalan: feudalisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 封建制度 (zh) (fēngjiàn zhìdù)

• Czech: feudalismus m
• Danish: feudalisme c, lenssystem n
• Dutch: feodalisme (nl) n, leenstelsel (nl) n
• Esperanto: feŭdismo
• Finnish: feodalismi (fi)
• French: féodalisme (fr) m
• Georgian: ფეოდალიზმი (peodalizmi)
• German: Feudalismus (de) m
• Greek: φεουδαρχία (el) f (feoudarchía), δουλοπαροικία (el) f (douloparoikía)
• Hungarian: feudalizmus (hu)
• Icelandic: lénsskipulag n, lénskerfi n, lénsveldi n
• Indonesian: feodalisme (id)
• Japanese: 封建制度 (ja) (hōken seido)
• Kazakh: феодализм (feodalizm)
• Korean: 봉건제도(封建制度) (ko) (bonggeonjedo)
• Latin: feudalismus m
• Macedonian: феудали́зам m (feudalízam)
• Malay: feudalisme
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: føydalisme m

  Nynorsk: føydalisme m

• Persian: فئودالیسم (fa)
• Polish: feudalizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: feudalismo (pt)
• Romanian: feudalism (ro) n, orânduire feudală (ro) f
• Russian: феодали́зм (ru) m (feodalízm), феода́льный строй m (feodálʹnyj stroj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: феудалѝзам m

  Roman: feudalìzam (sh) m

• Slovak: feudalizmus (sk) m
• Spanish: feudalismo (es) m
• Swahili: ukabaila
• Swedish: feodalism (sv) c
• Tagalog: pagkamalaalipin
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: feodalizm (tr), feodalite (tr), derebeylik (tr)
• Vietnamese: chế độ phong kiến (vi)
• Welsh: ffiwdaliaeth f, trefn ffiwdal f

See also

• capitalism
• communism
• monarchy
• peasant
• serf
• suzerain
• vassal

Anagrams

• sulfamide

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian feudalismo, French féodalisme. Equivalent to feudal +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fe.u.da.ˈlism/

Noun

feudalism n (uncountable)

1. feudalism