fee [ME] A word bound up with the medieval feudal system, in which the nobles held Crown land in exchange for military service while the peasants were obliged to work their lord’s land and give him a share of the produce. A fee was originally a fief [E17th] or feudal estate, from which it developed through the meanings ‘the right to an office or pension’, ‘a tribute to a superior’, and ‘a benefit or reward’ to the modern sense. The word comes from Old French feu or fief, and is related to feudal [E17th].