chattel

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”.

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃæt.l̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætəl

chattel (plural chattels)

1. Tangible, movable property.
   • 1990, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, Corgi, page 387:

     […] 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.

2. A slave.
   • 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring [Book 2, Chapter 1 - Many Meetings]

     Not all his servants and chattels are wraiths!

• capital
• cattle

• latchet