# service
## English
### Alternative forms

* seruice (obsolete)

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈsɜː.vɪs/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈsɜːɹ.vɪs/
* Audio (California):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)vɪs
* Hyphenation: ser‧vice

### Etymology 1

From Middle English servise, from Old French servise (French service), from the verb servir, from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus (“servant; serf; slave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo-s (“guardian”), possibly from *ser- (“watch over, protect”). Displaced native Old English þeġnung.

#### Noun

service (countable and uncountable, plural services)
* An act of being of assistance to someone.
    I say I did him a service by ending our relationship – now he can freely pursue his career.
** 1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: J[ohn] M‘Creery, […] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act I, page 7:The Parliament for ever cries more money, / The service of the state demands more money. / Just heaven! of what service is the state?
** 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
* The state of being subordinate to or employed by an individual or group.
    Lancelot was at the service of King Arthur.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XX, page 33:The lesser griefs that may be said, / ⁠That breathe a thousand tender vows, / ⁠Are but as servants in a house / Where lies the master newly dead; / Who speak their feeling as it is, / ⁠And weep the fulness from the mind: / ⁠‘It will be hard’ they say ‘to find / Another service such as this.’
* (elliptical, uncountable) Work as a member of the military.
    Synonym: military service
    Thank you for your service.
* (economics) The practice of providing assistance as economic activity.
    Hair care is a service industry.
** 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",[...]and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
* (business) Synonym of utility (“commodity provided on a continuous basis by a physical infrastructure network, such as electricity, water supply or sewerage”).
* A department in a company, organization, or institution.
* (computing) A function that is provided by one program or machine for another.
    This machine provides the name service for the LAN.
* (with the) The military.
    the service
    I did three years in the service before coming here.
* A set of dishes or utensils.
    She brought out the silver tea service.
** 1997, Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, Monthly Review Press, page 36:When their lavish fiestas ended they threw the silver service and even golden vessels from their balconies to be picked up by lucky passersby.
* (sports) The act of initially starting, or serving, the ball in play in tennis, volleyball, and other games.
    The player had four service faults in the set.
* A religious rite or ritual.
** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
    The funeral service was touching.
* (law) The serving, or delivery, of a summons or writ.
** 1668 July 3, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 548:
    He Suſpends on theſe Reaſons, that Thomas Rue had granted a general Diſcharge to Adam Muſhet, who was his Conjunct, and correus debendi, after the alleadged Service, which Diſcharged Muſhet, and conſequently Houstoun his Partner.
    The service happened yesterday.
* (Israel, West Bank, also in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) A taxi shared among unrelated passengers, each of whom pays part of the fare; often, it has a fixed route between cities.
* A musical composition for use in churches.
* (obsolete) Profession of respect; acknowledgment of duty owed.
** 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:Pray, do my service to his majesty.
* (nautical) The materials used for serving a rope, etc., such as spun yarn and small lines.
* Access to resources such as hotel rooms and Web-based videos without transfer of the resources' ownership.

##### Usage notes

In British English, the indefinite article "a" is often used with “good service”, as in "A good service is operating on all London Underground lines", whereas this is not used in American English.

##### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “economics”): capital

##### Hyponyms

* accept service
* advisory service
* all-up service
* alternative service
* answering service
* bond service
* bus replacement service
* church service
* civilian service
* civil service
* client service
* community service
* curb service
* customer service
* debt service
* denture service
* dinner service
* diplomatic service
* disservice
* divine service
* ecological service
* emergency service
* escort service
* extension service
* eyeservice
* fanservice
* food service
* foreign service
* health service
* ill service
* intelligence service
* memorial service
* micro service
* military service
* mobile service
* national service
* necrological service
* online service
* personal service
* postal service
* power service
* prayer service
* public service
* rail replacement service
* room service
* Secret Service
* secret service
* selective service
* shared service
* silent service
* silver service
* social service
* stopping service
* substituted service
* suit service
* table service
* tea service
* time service
* Web service
* wire service
* yeoman's service

##### Coordinate terms

* (economics, business): good

##### Derived terms

* accessorial service
* active service
* address verification service
* ancillary travel services
* antiservice
* API service symbol
* API Service Symbol
* at someone's service
* at your service
* bioservice
* bord service
* bottle service
* bulletin board service
* Cinderella service
* civil-service
* command and service module
* craft service
* craft services
* curbside service
* cyberservice
* denial of service
* denial-of-service attack
* denial of services
* diaper service
* digital service provider
* directory service
* domain name service
* domestic service
* eco-service
* ecoservice
* emergency medical service
* emergency services
* enterprise service bus
* e-service
* exposed services
* ex-service
* extra service
* eye-service
* eye service
* fan service
* fee-for-service
* fire service
* flower service
* foodservice
* full service
* full-service
* goods and services tax
* heart-service
* human services
* Indian Revenue Service
* in service
* inservice
* in-service
* integrated services digital network
* internet service provider
* interservice
* intraservice
* jury service
* knight service
* knight-service
* lip service
* lip-service
* logbook service
* long service leave
* megaservice
* metaservice
* microservice
* misservice
* monoservice
* multiservice
* nappy service
* non-military service
* nonservice
* off service
* onion service
* operational service period
* order of service
* out-of-service
* out of service
* overservice
* payment service
* plain old telephone service
* point of service
* police service
* postservice
* preservice
* pre-service
* press into service
* preventive service
* pseudoservice
* public service announcement
* quality of service
* religious service
* reservice
* road service
* rough service light
* second-mile service
* second service
* security service
* see service
* self-service
* servibar
* serviceage
* service agreement
* service animal
* service area
* service as a software substitute
* serviceberry
* service-berry
* service berry
* service book
* service box
* service break
* service bureau
* service call
* service cap
* service ceiling
* service center
* service charge
* service cleaner
* service club
* service contract
* service course
* service court
* service design package
* service dog
* service door
* service drop
* service economy
* service elevator
* service fee
* service game
* service hat
* service industry
* service item
* service journalism
* service-learning
* serviceless
* service level
* service level agreement
* service life
* service lift
* servicelike
* service line
* service loop
* service magazine
* serviceman
* servicemark
* service mark
* service media
* servicemember
* service member
* service module
* service of an heir
* service of process
* service-oriented
* service-oriented architecture
* service pack
* serviceperson
* service pipe
* service pistol
* service plaza
* service provider
* service record
* service revolver
* service road
* servicescape
* service set identifier
* serviceshed
* service station
* service stripe
* service top
* service wall
* service water
* servicewoman
* service worker
* servicification
* servitization
* sewer service
* short message service
* social services
* software as a service
* special service request
* special service requirement
* subservice
* suit and service
* sunrise service
* teleservice
* terms of service
* toilet service
* transportation network vehicle service
* triservice
* uniformed service
* unservice
* unserviced
* value-added service
* white-glove service
* wild service tree
* yeoman service

##### Related terms

* service à la française
* service à la russe

##### Translations
#### Verb

service (third-person singular simple present services, present participle servicing, simple past and past participle serviced)
* (transitive) To serve.
    They service the customer base.
** 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 28:07 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎, archived from the original on 3 November 2022:The USS Manila Bay, in the next group south of Taffy 3, services aircraft from eleven different squadrons that aren't attached to her own flight group, and, at one point, has representatives from no less than four other carriers' airgroups on her flight deck at the same time.
** (transitive) To perform maintenance.
*** 1980 August 30, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 6, page 14:2 GWM businessmen seek young GM to service nice small country home in So. NH
    He is going to service the car.
** (public relations, transitive) To supply (media outlets) with press releases etc.
*** 1977, Patricia Marshall, Citizen Participation Certification for Community Development, page 107:One obvious way is press releases, which should be sent to your region's reporters, editors and columnists, the wire services, professional publications. […] Servicing the media should be an everyday thing.
*** 1971, College and University Journal, volumes 10-11, page 9:[…] instead of expending so much of their PR effort on servicing the media.
* (transitive) To make a repayment or pay interest (on a debt).
    It continues to be laden with intense debt servicing costs.
* (transitive, agriculture, euphemistic) To inseminate through sexual intercourse.
* (transitive, vulgar) To perform a sexual act upon.
    He serviced her several times a week.
* (transitive, military, euphemistic) To attack.
    to service a target; target servicing

##### Synonyms

* (to serve): attend, wait on; See also Thesaurus:serve
* (to perform a sexual act): be with, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

##### Derived terms

* serviceability
* service oneself
* servicer

##### Descendants

* → Dutch: service
** → Indonesian: servis
* → German: Service
* → Hindustani
       Hindi: सर्विस (sarvis)
       Urdu: سروس (sarvis)
* → Hungarian: szerviz
* → Japanese: サービス (sābisu)
* → Korean: 서비스 (seobiseu)
* → Persian:
       Dari: سرویس (sarwīs)
* → Russian: сервис (servis)
* → Ukrainian: сервіс (servis)

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

Properly, the tree that bears sorb fruit, from Middle English serves, plural of serve (“sorb apple, serviceberry”), from Old English syrfe, from Vulgar Latin *sorbea, from Latin sorbus (“service tree”). See sorb.

#### Noun

service (plural services)
* Service tree.
* The sorb; the fruit of this tree.

##### Translations
### Anagrams

* cerevis, scrieve

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from English service.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: ser‧vice

### Noun

service f or m (plural services)
* service
* after-sales

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Old French servise, borrowed from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sɛʁ.vis/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: services, servisse, servissent, servisses

### Noun

service m (plural services)
* service
    Cet employé a obtenu sa retraite après trente années de service. ― This employee retired after thirty years of service.
    être d’un bon service ― to be of good service
* (tennis) service
* (Switzerland, in the plural) cutlery
* set (collection of objects)

#### Derived terms

* à votre service
* bon pour le service
* entrée de service
* hors service
* mise en service
* rendre service
* reprendre du service
* service à café
* service à la française
* service à la russe
* service à thé
* service civil
* service clientèle
* service de renseignement
* service d’ordre
* service militaire
* service rapide par bus
* service secret
* taxe sur les produits et services

#### Related terms

* servir
* servant
* serf

#### Descendants

* → Romanian: serviciu
* → Turkish: servis

### Interjection

service
* (Switzerland) you're welcome

### Further reading

* “service”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
* “service” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.

### Anagrams

* écrives

## Middle English
### Noun

service
* Alternative form of servise

## Norman
### Alternative forms

* sèrvice (Jersey)

### Etymology

From Old French servise, (compare French service), borrowed from Latin servitium, from servus.

### Noun

service m (plural services)
* (Guernsey) service

## Old French
### Noun

service oblique singular, m (oblique plural services, nominative singular services, nominative plural service)
* Alternative form of servise

## Romanian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English service.

### Noun

service n (plural service-uri)
* service

#### Declension
## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

service c
* service, the level of comfort offered by assistants and servants (the opposite of self-service)
* maintenance and repair
    min bil är inne på servicemy car is at the workshop

#### Related terms

* fullservice
* kundservice
* serva
* serviceverkstad

#### See also

* servis
* tjänst