servant class
Household help stratum
The servant class refers collectively to people employed in domestic service—maids, butlers, cooks, valets, and similar household workers.
The term implies a distinct social stratum, particularly in historical contexts where rigid class divisions separated those who served from those they served: The servant class had their own entrances and staircases.
It can describe contemporary domestic workers but often carries overtones of outdated social hierarchies.
- butlerChief domestic servant
- maidHousehold cleaning worker
- footmanUniformed domestic male attendant
- lady's maidFemale personal attendant
- valetPersonal servant or parker
chambermaid · housekeeper · scullery · livery · domestic · below stairs · downstairs · quarters · apron · master · mistress · ring the bell · bell · manor · estate · wages · uniform · deference
- classessubclass, superclass, underclass, caste, tier
- servantsbutler, maid, servants, domestics, valet
- social classstratum, bourgeoisie, proletariat, underclass, elite
- social classesnobles, aristocrats, underclass, peasants, elite
- British Classaristocrats, gentry, peerage, commoners, nobility
- Victorian fictionJane Eyre, gothic fiction, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist
servant classaristocracy
Rule by hereditary elite
ruling class · nobility · upper class · master class · gentry
servant classmasters
Those with dominion
employers · landowning class · proprietors · householders · merchant class
servant classmaster class
High-level instructional session
ruling class · overlords · slaveholders · landowners · proprietors
servant, class, serve, server, serving, served, serves, servile, servitude