Fagging-System
/ˈfæɡɪŋ ˌsɪstəm/noun
A former British school practice in which younger pupils performed personal tasks and errands for older pupils.
Did you know?The school sense of “fag” was recorded by the early 19th century and is historically distinct from the later British slang sense meaning a cigarette.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*steh₂-
“to stand or be set upright”
Ancient Greek
Greek
synistanai
“to place together, establish, or organize”
Ancient Greek
Greek
systēma
“an organized whole or arrangement”
Latin
Latin
systema
“an organized body or system”
16th Century
English
system
“an organized set of principles, objects, or procedures”
Early 19th Century
English
fag / fagging
“a tiring task; then the practice of younger schoolboys performing duties for older boys”
19th–20th Century
English
fagging-system
“The institutionalized arrangement of junior pupils serving senior pupils in British public schools”