Eved – slave / servant (עבד) This word is often translated "servant" but a better translation is actually "slave" – and the clues are all in the Hebrew spelling itself. The noun comes from the verb root "avad", which means "to be enslaved" (see Exodus 1:13 – "So  Mitsrayim [Egypt] ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves.") The original "pictographs" that give rise to our modern Hebrew characters give enormous depth to our understanding of this word. The letter "ayin" was an eye (meaning "experience"); the "beyt" was a house; and "delet" was a door. Put them all together and you have "experience the door of the house" – and now look at the experience of becoming a slave in Exodus 21:6, "then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever."