maiden

English

Etymology

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 *magaþiz (“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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmeɪdən/, SAMPA: /"meId@n/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪdən

Noun

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 race horse without any victory ('virgin record').
7. (historical) A Scottish counterpart of the guillotine.
8. (cricket) A maiden over.

Derived terms

• maidenhair
• maidenhead
• maidenhood
• maidenly, maidenliness
• maiden flight
• maiden voyage
• maiden name
• maiden of honor
• iron maiden

Related terms

• maid

Synonyms

• (unmarried (young) female) bachelorette

Translations

unmarried young female

Armenian: օրիորդ (hy) (òriord) Breton: merc'h (br) f., plac'h (nl) f. Bulgarian: госпожица (bg) (gos'pozhitsa) f. Dutch: juffrouw f., maagd m. and f. (poetic), meisje m., jongedame, vrijster Finnish: neiti (fi), neito (fi) French: jeune fille (fr) f., jeune femme (fr) f., demoiselle (fr) f., pucelle (fr) f. (informal or dated) German: Jungfrau (de) f., Mädchen (de) n., Maid (de) f. Hungarian: leány (hu) Irish: maighdean (ga) f. ainnir (ga) f. Italian: pulzella (it) f., ragazza (it) f. Old English: mǣġþ (ang) f., mǣġden (ang) n., mǣġdenċild (ang) n.

Old Provençal: donzella Polish: panna (pl) f. Russian: девушка (ru) (dévuška) f., девица (ru) (devíca) f., дева (ru) (déva) f. Scottish Gaelic: maighdeann f., ainnir f., rìbhinn f (poetic), nighean f., òigh f., gruagach f. Spanish: doncella (es) f. Swedish: jungfru (sv) c. Taos: kwə́lena Welsh: merch (cy) f., rhiain (cy) f., morwyn (cy) f., geneth (cy) f. Yiddish: מויד (yi) (moyd) f., מײדל (yi) (meydl) n.

female virgin

Armenian: կույս (hy) (kuys) Czech: panna (cs) f. Dutch: maagd (nl) m. and f. Finnish: neitsyt, impi (archaic, poetic) French: vierge (fr) f., pucelle (fr) f. (informal) German: Jungfrau (de) f. Hebrew: בתולה (he) (betulah) f. Hungarian: szűz (hu)

Irish: maighdean (ga) f. Polish: dziewica (pl) f. Portuguese: donzela (pt) f. Russian: девственница (ru) (dévstvennica) f. Scottish Gaelic: maighdeann f., òigh f., ainnir (gd) f. Swedish: jungfru (sv) c., oskuld (sv) c. Yiddish: בתולה (yi) (bsule) f.

(cricket) a maiden over

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.

Translations to be checked

Serbo-Croatian: djeva f. Serbo-Croatian: djeva f. Interlingua: senioretta Italian: signorina f., vergine f. Portuguese: senhorita f., donzela f.

Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: дева f., дјева f. Roman: deva f., djeva f., mladica f., moma f., mladojka f. Romanian: domnișoară f. Slovak: deva f. Spanish: doncella f. Welsh: llancesig f., morwyn f., merch f., morwynig f., rhiain f.

Adjective

maiden (not comparable)

1. virgin
2. (about a female, human or animal) without offspring
3. like/ fitting 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

• maidenly

Translations

virgin — see virgin

without offspring

Dutch: kinderloos (nl)

like/ fitting a (young, unmarried) maiden

describing a first occurrence or event

Finnish: neitsyt- French: inaugural (fr) Portuguese: primeiro m., primeira f., inaugural m. and f.

Romanian: inaugural m., inaugurală f. Swedish: jungfru (sv)-

(cricket) describing an over in which no runs are scored

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.

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: prime, inaugural

Anagrams

• aidmen
• Damien
• demain
• median, Median
• medina, Medina
• meidan

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Finnish

Alternative forms

• maitten

Noun

maiden

1. Genitive plural form of maa.

Anagrams

• median