housewife

CEFRB1

/ˈhaʊs.waɪf/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A married woman who manages her home and family.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A little case or bag for materials used in sewing, and for other articles of female work.

Examples

  • I would hate to become just a housewife.

  • This is a great time-saving gadget for the housewife.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈhʌz(w)ɪf/
  • /ˈhʌzɪf/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The wife of a householder; the mistress of a family; the female head of a household.

  2. A woman whose main employment is homemaking, maintaining the upkeep of her home and tending to household affairs; often, such a woman whose sole [unpaid] employment is homemaking.

  3. A worthless woman; a hussy.

More examples

In context

  • 2000, Uli Kusch, "Mr. Torture", Helloween, The Dark Ride Mr Torture sells pain / To the housewives in Spain / He knows just what they crave / Mr Torture

  • It was a housewife, containing needles, a bodkin, and thread; ‘and, do you know,’ added he, ‘it was the most useful thing she could have given me, for it lasted all the time I was at Rome to mend my clothes with […].’

  • The "soldier's housewife" was a small sewing kit that was carried to make timely repairs to clothing and equipment.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank spends her day taking care of her home and children.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English houswyf, housewif, huswijf, equivalent to house + wife; a doublet of hussy, which it was long distinguished from and displaced due to gradual negative connotation (see Online Etymology Dictionary entry). Cognate with West Frisian húswiif, Dutch huiswijf, German Low German Huuswief, German Hausweib.