corvee
/kɔrˈveɪ/
noun
- Unpaid labor that people are forced to do for the government or a landowner, often for a set number of days each year.
- In medieval times, peasants had to perform corvee labor on the lord's land.
- Many ancient civilizations used corvee to construct public buildings and irrigation canals.
- The new law abolished the corvee system that required farmers to build roads without pay.
Synonyms