housewife

English

Etymology

From Middle English housewif, houswyf, huswijf, equivalent to house +‎ wife. Replaced earlier Middle English hussif (Modern English hussy), which is a doublet.

Pronunciation

Person

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊs.waɪf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Bag

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌzɪf/

Noun

housewife (plural housewives) (housewifes for the sense 3)

1. 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.
   • 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

2. The wife of a householder; the mistress of a family; the female head of a household.
3. A little case or bag for materials used in sewing, and for other articles of female work; – called also hussy.
   • 1852: Tom Taylor and Charles Reade, Masks and Faces Act II

     Woffington's housewife, made by herself, homely to the eye, but holds everything in the world

   • 1997, David L. Phillips, A Soldier's Story, MetroBooks, →ISBN, page 61.

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

Synonyms

• henhussy (archaic)

Hypernyms

• homemaker

Coordinate terms

• househusband

Derived terms

• housewifedom
• housewifeish
• housewifelike
• housewifely
• housewifery
• housewifeship
• housewifization

Translations

female head of household

• Albanian: amvisë (sq) f
• Arabic: رَبَّة مَنْزِل f (rabbat manzil), رَبَّة بَيْت f (rabbat bayt), رَبَّة أُسْرَة f (rabbat ʾusra)
• Armenian: տնային տնտեսուհի (tnayin tntesuhi), տանտիկին (hy) (tantikin)
• Azerbaijani: evdar qadın
• Basque: etxekoandre (eu)
• Belarusian: ха́тняя гаспады́ня f (xátnjaja haspadýnja)
• Bengali: গৃহবধূ (grihôbôdhu), গৃহিণী (grihini), ঘরণী (ghôrôni)
• Bulgarian: домаки́ня (bg) f (domakínja)
• Burmese: အိမ်ရှင်မ (my) (imhrangma.)
• Catalan: mestressa de casa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主婦／主妇 (zh) (zhǔfù), 主妇 (zh) (zhǔfù), 家庭婦女／家庭妇女 (jiātíng fùnǚ), 家庭妇女 (jiātíng fùnǚ)

• Chukchi: гыпиԓьын (gypiḷʹyn)
• Czech: hospodyňka f, žena v domácnosti f
• Danish: husmor c
• Dutch: huisvrouw (nl) f
• Estonian: koduperenaine
• Faroese: matmóðir f, húsfrú f, húsfrúgv f
• Finnish: emäntä (fi), kotirouva (fi), perheenemäntä (fi), kotiäiti (fi)
• French: maîtresse de maison (fr) f, femme au foyer (fr) f, mère au foyer f
• Georgian: დიასახლისი (diasaxlisi)
• German: Hausfrau (de) f

  Alemannic German: Huusfrau f

• Greek: νοικοκυρά (el) f (noikokyrá), οικοδέσποινα (el) f (oikodéspoina)
• Hebrew: עקרת בית (he) f (akéret báyit)
• Hindi: गृहिणी (hi) f (gŕhiṇī), घरनी (hi) f (gharnī), घरवाली (hi) f (gharvālī)
• Hungarian: háziasszony (hu)
• Icelandic: húsfrú (is) f, húsmóðir (is) f
• Indonesian: ibu rumah tangga (id)
• Irish: bean tí f
• Italian: massaia (it) f, donna di casa f, padrona di casa f, casalinga (it) f
• Japanese: 主婦 (ja) (しゅふ, shufu)
• Kazakh: үй шаруасындағы әйел (üi şaruasyndağy äiel)
• Khmer: ស្ដ្រីមេផ្ទះ (strəy mee pteah), គេហសាមិនី (kee haa saamiʔnii)
• Korean: 주부 (ko) (jubu)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

  Sorani:

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ແມ່ເຮືອນ (mǣ hư̄an)
• Latvian: mājsaimniece f
• Lithuanian: šeimininkė f
• Macedonian: домаќинка f (domaḱinka)
• Malay: suri rumah
• Mongolian: гэрийн эзэгтэй (geriin ezegtej)
• Norman: femme dé mênage f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: husmor (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: husmor f

• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: gospodyni domowa (pl) f, pani domu f
• Portuguese: dona-de-casa (pt) f, dona de casa (pt) f
• Romanian: gospodină (ro) f, casnică (ro) f
• Russian: домохозя́йка (ru) f (domoxozjájka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: домаћица f

  Roman: domaćica (sh) f

• Slovak: gazdiná f
• Slovene: gospodinja (sl) f
• Spanish: ama de casa f
• Swedish: husfru (sv) c, husmor c
• Tagalog: maybahay
• Tajik: соҳибхоназан (sohibxonazan)
• Thai: แม่บ้าน (mɛ̂ɛ-bâan)
• Turkish: ev kadını (tr), ev hanımı, karı (tr)
• Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: домогоспода́рка f (domohospodárka)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: uy bekasi
• Vietnamese: bà nội trợ
• Volapük: domaläd
• Yiddish: באַלעבאָסטע f (baleboste)

case for materials used in sewing

• Finnish: käsityölaukku
• French: trousse de couture f, boîte à ouvrage (fr) f
• Hungarian: varrókészlet
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: húsmóðir (is)
• Portuguese: caixa de costura f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} kućanica (sh) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} గృహిణి (te) (gr̥hiṇi)

Verb

1. Alternative form of housewive