召使・召し使い・召使い|めしつかいmeshitsukai[3]nakadaka (mid-high)

1. nounservant; menial
   召使めしつかいをもっと親切しんせつに扱あつかいなさい。↗

   Treat your servant more kindly.

• Synonym使用人しようにんNeutralA hired person: can mean a domestic servant, but also covers employees in general, with less of the old-fashioned master-and-servant air of 「召し使い」.
• Synonym下働きしたばたらきNeutralDoing odd jobs under someone, or a servant doing housework; the emphasis is on menial chores rather than service in general.
• Synonym奉公人ほうこうにんWrittenWritten term for a servant working for a merchant house or samurai family; can also mean a warrior serving his lord. Historical.
• Synonym下人げにんWrittenWritten, historical word for a person of low status, also menial servants both male and female; carries a dismissive nuance.
• Synonym下男げなんWrittenWritten, old-fashioned word for a manservant; male only, the counterpart of the maidservant 「下女」.
• Related家来けらいNeutralA retainer or vassal serving a lord; carries a samurai-era flavor and implies higher standing than a 「召し使い」 doing chores around the house.
• Related家事手伝いかじてつだいNeutralSomeone who helps with housework: hired domestic help, but often just a person helping out at home; a much more modern term than 「召し使い」.
• RelatedおそばNeutralAn attendant serving at the master's side; honorific in tone, stressing close personal attendance, unlike 「召し使い」 which covers menial work generally.
• RelatedサーバントNeutralLoanword for servant, common in games and anime; has a Western flavor.
• Related下僕げぼくWrittenWritten word for a manservant; today often used self-deprecatingly, as in 「下僕のように働く」.
• Related下郎げろうWrittenA manservant of low social standing; archaic and contemptuous, mostly heard in period dramas.
• Related家従かじゅうWrittenRare written term for a manservant who does housework and looks after the master's daily needs.
• Related家僕かぼくWrittenA manservant in the house; rare in writing and old-fashioned.
• Related従僕じゅうぼくWrittenA personal manservant or valet; rare written word, mostly in stories set in the West.
• Related小者こものWrittenA lowly errand boy in a samurai family; a written, historical term, also extended to a small-time, unimportant person.
• Related男衆おとこしゅうNeutralMen in general, or male servants in a shop or theatrical troupe; old-fashioned.
• Related奴僕ぬぼくWrittenMeans the same as 「下僕」; extremely rare written word, hardly used today outside classical texts and historical writing.
• Related奴婢ぬひWrittenA written, historical term for slaves under the ancient ritsuryō system; people of lower standing than hired servants.
• Related折助おりすけWrittenA written, historical term for a manservant hired by a samurai family in the Edo period; rare.
• Antonym主人しゅじんNeutralThe head of a household or a shop owner; the opposite side of the relationship from the servant 「召し使い」.
• Antonym主あるじWrittenA master or head of the household; literary and old-fashioned, opposed to the servant 「召し使い」.
• Antonym雇い主やといぬしNeutralAn employer; the one who hires, as opposed to the hired 「召し使い」.

For a servant in a Western story or an old-time household, 「召し使い」 is the word. A samurai lord's retainer is 「家来」; for employees in modern settings, 「使用人」 is the natural choice. 「奉公人」 and 「下人」 are historical, 「下僕」 suits self-deprecating talk, and 「サーバント」 is the loanword of games and anime. The opposites are 「主人」 and 「雇い主」.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 雇やとわれて雑用ざつようをする者もの。下男しもおとこ、下女げじょ。
2. 宮中きゅうちゅうに仕つかえる下級かきゅう役人やくにん。