ceorl

[ chey-awrl ]

/ ˈtʃeɪ ɔrl /

churl(def 4).

Origin of ceorl

before 1000; this form borrowed (17th century) < Old English

ceorl·ish, adjective

Ceorl, churl, n. before the Norman Conquest an ordinary freeman not of noble birth.

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) |Various
War, in short, which was an unwelcome accident to the Ceorl, was the business of life to the Gesith.

A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3) |Samuel R. Gardiner.
It was the 'ceorl' who lived on 'gafol land,' 172 and to pay gafol was to do service, though of a limited kind.

The English Village Community |Frederic Seebohm
An eorl could call upon the ceorl farmers for about forty days to fight off an invading group.

Our Legal Heritage, 5th Ed. |S. A. Reilly

Chorl is frequently used for a countryman, in old books, from the Saxon ceorl.

Folk-lore of Shakespeare |Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer

ceorl

/ (tʃɛəl) /

a freeman of the lowest class in Anglo-Saxon England

ceorlish, adjective

Old English; see churl