10 letters · 13 points in Scrabble
noun the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action
noun the loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects to their sovereign)
originFrom Middle English alegiaunce, from Anglo-Norman alegaunce (“loyalty of a liege-servant to one's lord”), variant of Old French ligeance, from lige (“vassal, liegeman”). More at liege.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0