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
• 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

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