Daily AncestorScullion
A scullion was a low kitchen servant who scrubbed pots and did the roughest kitchen work, the male counterpart of a scullery maid.
Wiktionary defines a scullion as a servant from the lower classes and gives a sense from the 1400s of a low, base person. The word may come from Middle French escouillon, a swab or cloth.
Scullery work was mostly done by women from the 1800s, but in medieval households female servants were rare and a man doing the same tasks was called a scullion. In 1386 Richard II famously said he would not dismiss so much as a scullion from his kitchen at Parliament's request.
As seen in a recordEnglish royal and great-household accounts of the 1300s to 1600s
Jno. Hobday, scullion in the kitchen
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Scullion." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/scullion. Last checked 2026-10-12.