chattel
noun/ˈt͡ʃæt.l̩/
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”.
1
Tangible, movable property.
- […] 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.1990, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, Corgi, page 387:
2
A slave.
- Not all his servants and chattels are wraiths!1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring [Book 2, Chapter 1 - Many Meetings]
- Derived terms
- chattelhood, chattel house, chattelism, chattel paper, chattelship, chattel slavery, human chattel