duenna

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Spanish duenna or dueña, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Vulgar Latin donna, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin domina (“Lady”). Doublet of dame.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /duˈɛ.nə/

Noun

duenna (plural duennas)

1. a chaperon of a young lady, usually an older woman.
   • 1949, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces:

     Then he placed her in a house and shut her up in a chamber, appointing ten old women as duennas to guard her, and forbade her to go forth to the Seven Palaces.

2. a governess or nanny.

Translations

a chaperon of a young lady

• Bulgarian: компаньо́нка f (kompanjónka)
• French: accompagnatrice (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: компаньо́нка (ru) f (kompanʹónka), дуэ́нья (ru) f (duénʹja)

a governess or nanny

• Bulgarian: гуверна́нтка f (guvernántka)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: гуверна́нтка (ru) f (guvernántka)

Anagrams

• undean