service

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun work done by one person or group that benefits another
  2. noun an act of help or assistance
  3. noun the act of public worship following prescribed rules

Etymology

From Middle English servise, from Old English serfis, from Old French servise (French service), from the verb servir, from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus (“servant; serf; slave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo-s (“guardian”), possibly from *ser- (“watch over, protect”). Displaced native Old English þeġnung.

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