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Added 9 October 2026

chattel

/ˈt͡ʃæt.l̩/ noun

Latin root: capitāle Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about chattel at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Personal as opposed to real property; any tangible movable property (furniture or domestic animals or a car etc).

Origin

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”.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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