means The useful work people or organizations perform for others — from haircuts to healthcare to banking — rather than physical goods you can hold.

from From Latin 'servitium,' meaning slavery or servitude, built on 'servus,' a slave or servant. It entered English through Old French 'servise' in the medieval period, first carrying senses of religious worship and feudal duty. Only later did it broaden into the modern economic meaning — the vast realm of doing-things-for-people that now dwarfs the making-of-things. The word still carries that old echo of one person laboring at another's need.