Breadwinner Meaning
/ˈbɹɛdˌwɪnɚ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe primary income-earner in a household.
Sentence Examples
She's the breadwinner in this family.
My father is the breadwinner.
Tom is the only breadwinner in the family.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After losing his job, he struggled to fulfill his role as the family's primary ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
As the only ____ in the family, he worked very hard at his two jobs.
Word Origin & History
From bread + winner, where to win = to earn. Compare West Frisian breawinning (“livelihood”, literally “bread-winning”), Dutch broodwinning (“livelihood”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"At one side lay the little town of Hollingford, into a street of which Mr. Gibson's front door opened; and delicate columns, and little puffs of smoke were already beginning to rise from many a cottage chimney where some housewife was already up, and preparing breakfast for the bread-winner of the family."
— 1865, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, Chapter I:
"The female breadwinners who are making more than their working husbands are in a whole different income bracket; their median household income is $80,000.
The role of men is evolving even in the three-quarters of dual-parent families in which fathers are the primary breadwinners. […] Those fathers reported that being a breadwinner was less important to them than providing their children with love and emotional support, being present and involved in their child’s life, or being a good mentor and role model."
— 2013 June 3, Brad Harrington, “Behind the Data on Breadwinner Mothers”, in The New York Times:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After losing his job, he struggled to fulfill his role as the family's primary ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
As the only ____ in the family, he worked very hard at his two jobs.