sierva

Sierva is a Spanish noun that denotes a female servant and, in some historical or religious contexts, a female slave. The counterpart is siervo, the masculine form. In everyday modern Spanish, sierva is uncommon for describing a worker in a household; more typical terms are criada, empleada, or sirvienta. The word often appears in religious phrases such as sierva de Dios or siervo de Dios, where it reflects servitude to a higher authority.

Etymology and sense development: sierva derives from Latin serva, related to servus, meaning slave or servant. Over time, its semantic range shifted in many contexts from “female slave” to a more neutral or honorific sense of “female servant.” In contemporary usage, the term is usually found in formal, archaic, or literary registers rather than in everyday speech.

Usage notes: While sierva can denote subjection or binding to service in historical or literary texts, it is rarely used to describe a modern employee. In religious contexts, the masculine and feminine forms are used as titles or descriptors for people recognized for their devotion, such as siervo de Dios (servant of God) or, for a woman, sierva de Dios.

See also: siervo de Dios, criada, sirvienta, empleada, esclavo.

In summary, sierva is a gendered term with historical and religious overtones, originating from Latin and now largely confined to specific registers in contemporary Spanish.