socage
/ˈsɑkɪd͡ʒ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.27 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
In the Middle Ages (and chiefly but not exclusively medieval England), a legal system whereby a tenant would pay a rent or do some agricultural work for the landlord.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "[…] this quiz with all the strange old terms in it, curtilage and messuage and socage and fee simple and fee tail and feoffee and copyhold and customary freehold and mortmain and devises and lex loci rei sitae."
- "The rest was held by tenants, sometimes called "sokemen" from the "soke" or jurisdiction; and said to hold in "soccage" because they gave plough-service by way of rent."
Etymology
From Middle English sokage, from Anglo-Norman socage, from Old French soc (“soke”), ultimately from Old English sōcn. By surface analysis, soke + -age.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɑkɪd͡ʒ/
- British English: /ˈsɒkɪd͡ʒ/