Servitude is the condition of being forced to work for someone else without freedom to leave. A person in servitude must obey their master and cannot make their own choices about where to live, what work to do, or how to spend their time.

Throughout history, servitude has taken different forms. In medieval Europe, serfs lived in servitude to lords who owned the land they farmed. The serfs couldn't leave the estate without permission and owed labor and crops to their lord. Indentured servants in colonial America agreed to work for a master for several years in exchange for passage across the Atlantic, after which they would be free. Tragically, slavery was the most brutal form of servitude, where people were treated as property with no rights at all.

Today, servitude is illegal in most countries. When we use the word now, it's sometimes to describe situations that feel oppressively restrictive, like when someone complains about the servitude of having too many chores. But this casual use shouldn't make us forget that real servitude meant people lived without freedom, unable to pursue their own dreams or control their own futures.