maiden

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Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English, from Old English mæġden (maiden, virgin, girl, maid, servant), diminutive of mæġþ, mæġeþ (maiden, virgin, girl, woman, wife) via diminutive suffix -en, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs (maid, virgin), from Proto-Indo-European *maghu- (fellow, bachelor), equivalent to maid +‎ -en. Cognate with Dutch maagd (virgin), Old High German magad (maiden) (modern German Magd (virgin)), Old Irish mug (slave) and Albanian mag (a hare's young, hinnulus).

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

maiden (plural maidens)

  1. (now chiefly literary) A girl or an unmarried young woman.
  2. A female virgin.
    She's unmarried and still a maiden.
  3. (now dialectal) A man with no experience of sex, especially because of deliberate abstention.
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XI:
      And for all women Sir Bors was a vergyne, sauff for one, that was the doughter of Kynge Braundegorys [...], and sauff for her, Sir Bors was a clene mayden.
  4. A maidservant.
  5. (now rare) An unmarried woman, especially an older woman.
  6. A racehorse without any victory ('virgin record').
  7. (historical) A Scottish counterpart of the guillotine.
  8. (cricket) A maiden over.
  9. (Wicca) Alternative form of Maiden.

Derived terms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Synonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Adjective [edit]

maiden (not comparable)

  1. Virgin.
  2. (of a female, human or animal) Without offspring.
  3. Like or befitting a (young, unmarried) maiden.
  4. (figuratively) Describing a first occurrence or event.
    The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage.
  5. (cricket) Describing an over in which no runs are scored.

Synonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Anagrams [edit]


Finnish [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

Noun [edit]

maiden

  1. Genitive plural form of maa.

Anagrams [edit]