feudal

See also: feudał

English

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfjuːdəl/, [ˈfjuː.dɫ̩]
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfju.dəl/, [ˈfju.ɾɫ̩]

  • Audio (Colorado):

    (file)

• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈfjʉːdəl/, (casual) [ˈfjʉː.ɾɫ̩]
• Homophone: futile (some US accents)
• Hyphenation: feud‧al
• Rhymes: -uːdəl

Adjective

feudal (not comparable)

1. Of, or relating to feudalism.
   • 1987, Deleuze & Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, page 456:

     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.

Derived terms

• antifeudal
• feudalist
• feudalistic
• feudalization
• feudalize
• feudal law
• feudal lord
• feudally
• feudal rush
• feudal system
• neofeudal
• nonfeudal
• postfeudal
• prefeudal
• quasifeudal
• semifeudal
• technofeudal
• ultrafeudal
• unfeudal

Translations

of, or relating to feudalism

• Arabic: إِقْطَاعِيّ (ʔiqṭāʕiyy)
• Armenian: ֆեոդալական (hy) (feodalakan), ավատատիրական (hy) (avatatirakan)
• Bulgarian: феодален (feodalen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 封建的

• Czech: feudální (cs)
• Danish: feudal, lens-
• Esperanto: feŭda
• Finnish: feodaalinen (fi), feodaali- (fi), läänitys-
• French: féodal (fr)
• Galician: feudal (gl)
• German: feudal (de)
• Greek: φεουδαρχικός (el) (feoudarchikós)
• Indonesian: feodal (id)
• Kazakh: феодалдық (feodaldıq)
• Macedonian: феуда́лен m (feudálen)
• Malay: feudal
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: føydal

  Nynorsk: føydal

• Polish: feudalny (pl)
• Portuguese: feudal (pt)
• Russian: феода́льный (ru) (feodálʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фе̏уда̄лан

  Latin: fȅudālan (sh)

• Spanish: feudal
• Swedish: feodal (sv)
• Tagalog: malaalipin
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: феодальний (feodalʹnyj), февдальний (fevdalʹnyj) (obsolete)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [fəwˈðal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [fewˈðal]

Adjective

feudal m or f (masculine and feminine plural feudals)

1. feudal

Danish

Adjective

feudal

1. feudal

Related terms

• feudalisme

Further reading

• “feudal” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “feudal” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔɪ̯ˈdaːl/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

feudal (strong nominative masculine singular feudaler, comparative feudaler, superlative am feudalsten)

1. feudal

Declension

Positive forms of feudal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist feudal sie ist feudal es ist feudal sie sind feudal strong declension (without article) nominative feudaler feudale feudales feudale genitive feudalen feudaler feudalen feudaler dative feudalem feudaler feudalem feudalen accusative feudalen feudale feudales feudale weak declension (with definite article) nominative der feudale die feudale das feudale die feudalen genitive des feudalen der feudalen des feudalen der feudalen dative dem feudalen der feudalen dem feudalen den feudalen accusative den feudalen die feudale das feudale die feudalen mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein feudaler eine feudale ein feudales (keine) feudalen genitive eines feudalen einer feudalen eines feudalen (keiner) feudalen dative einem feudalen einer feudalen einem feudalen (keinen) feudalen accusative einen feudalen eine feudale ein feudales (keine) feudalen Comparative forms of feudal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist feudaler sie ist feudaler es ist feudaler sie sind feudaler strong declension (without article) nominative feudalerer feudalere feudaleres feudalere genitive feudaleren feudalerer feudaleren feudalerer dative feudalerem feudalerer feudalerem feudaleren accusative feudaleren feudalere feudaleres feudalere weak declension (with definite article) nominative der feudalere die feudalere das feudalere die feudaleren genitive des feudaleren der feudaleren des feudaleren der feudaleren dative dem feudaleren der feudaleren dem feudaleren den feudaleren accusative den feudaleren die feudalere das feudalere die feudaleren mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein feudalerer eine feudalere ein feudaleres (keine) feudaleren genitive eines feudaleren einer feudaleren eines feudaleren (keiner) feudaleren dative einem feudaleren einer feudaleren einem feudaleren (keinen) feudaleren accusative einen feudaleren eine feudalere ein feudaleres (keine) feudaleren Superlative forms of feudal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist am feudalsten sie ist am feudalsten es ist am feudalsten sie sind am feudalsten strong declension (without article) nominative feudalster feudalste feudalstes feudalste genitive feudalsten feudalster feudalsten feudalster dative feudalstem feudalster feudalstem feudalsten accusative feudalsten feudalste feudalstes feudalste weak declension (with definite article) nominative der feudalste die feudalste das feudalste die feudalsten genitive des feudalsten der feudalsten des feudalsten der feudalsten dative dem feudalsten der feudalsten dem feudalsten den feudalsten accusative den feudalsten die feudalste das feudalste die feudalsten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein feudalster eine feudalste ein feudalstes (keine) feudalsten genitive eines feudalsten einer feudalsten eines feudalsten (keiner) feudalsten dative einem feudalsten einer feudalsten einem feudalsten (keinen) feudalsten accusative einen feudalsten eine feudalste ein feudalstes (keine) feudalsten

Derived terms

• Feudalismus, Feudalsystem

Further reading

• “feudal” in Duden online
• “feudal”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *peḱ-

Proto-Indo-European *péḱu

Proto-Germanic *péku

Proto-Germanic *fehu

Frankish *fehuder.

Old French fieubor.

▲

Frankish *fehubor.

Old Occitan feubor.

Latin feudumbor.

Portuguese feudo

Portuguese -al

Portuguese feudal

From feudo (“feud”) + -al (“of or relating to”).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /fewˈdaw/ [feʊ̯ˈdaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fewˈdal/ [fewˈðaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fewˈdal/ [fewˈðaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /fewˈda.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: feu‧dal

Adjective

feudal m or f (plural feudais, not comparable)

1. feudal
2. (euphemistic) violent

Derived terms

• feudalismo
• feudalmente

Further reading

• “feudal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “feudal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian feudale or French féodal. By surface analysis, feudă +‎ -al.

Adjective

feudal m or n (feminine singular feudală, masculine plural feudali, feminine/neuter plural feudale)

1. feudal

Declension

Declension of feudal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	feudal		feudală	feudali	feudale
	definite	feudalul		feudala	feudalii	feudalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	feudal		feudale	feudali	feudale
	definite	feudalului		feudalei	feudalilor	feudalelor

Related terms

• feudaliza

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *peḱ-

Proto-Indo-European *péḱu

Proto-Germanic *péku

Proto-Germanic *fehu

Frankish *fehuder.

Old French fieubor.

▲

Frankish *fehubor.

Old Occitan feubor.

Latin feudumder.

Spanish feudo

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Spanish -al

Spanish feudal

From feudo + -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feuˈdal/ [feu̯ˈð̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: feu‧dal

Adjective

feudal m or f (masculine and feminine plural feudales)

1. feudal

Derived terms

• feudalidad
• feudalismo
• feudalmente
• señor feudal

Related terms

• feudo

Further reading

• “feudal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025