What are the workers who were bound to the land during the feudal system called?

The correct identification of workers bound to the land during the feudal system as serfs is rooted in the structure of feudal society, primarily in medieval Europe. Serfs were agrarian laborers who were not legally free but worked on the land owned by a lord. While they could not leave or sell themselves without the lord's permission, they were provided with protection and the right to work their own small plots for subsistence. This relationship was central to the feudal economy, whereby lords provided land and protection in exchange for service and labor from the serfs.

Peasants, while often used interchangeably with serfs in modern contexts, encompassed a broader category that included free workers as well. Many peasants were not bound to a specific plot of land and had the autonomy to leave. Slaves were a completely different class of laborers, lacking any personal freedoms and often involved in labor well beyond agricultural confines. Merchants involved trade and commerce rather than agricultural labor and did not operate within the traditional feudal obligations. Each of these distinctions highlights why serfs specifically are termed for the context of the feudal system.