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maidservant. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
maidservant, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
maidservant in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
maidservant you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English maide servant; equivalent to maid + servant.
Noun
maidservant (plural maidservants)
- A female servant; a maid.
1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Deuteronomy 5:13–14, column 2:Sixe dayes thou ſhalt labour, and doe all thy worke. / But the ſeuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou ſhalt not doe any worke, thou, nor thy ſonne, nor thy daughter, nor thy man ſeruant, nor thy maid ſeruant, nor thine oxe, nor thine aſſe, nor any of thy cattel, nor thy ſtranger that is within thy gates, that thy man ſeruant and thy maid ſeruant may reſt as well as thou.
1886 October – 1887 January, H Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:"A great people were they. They conquered till none were left to conquer, and then they dwelt at ease within their rocky mountain walls, with their man servants and their maid servants, their minstrels, their sculptors, and their concubines, and traded and quarrelled, and ate and hunted and slept and made merry till their time came."
1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, , →OCLC:But a man who holds so tightly to what he calls his rights over what he calls his debts will hold tightly also to what he calls his rights over her whom he calls his wife. No sir smile neighbour shall covet his ox or his wife or his manservant or his maidservant or his jackass. / —Or his jennyass, Buck Mulligan antiphoned.
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
Translations
female servant, maid
- Aramaic:
- Classical Syriac: ܡܫܡܫܢܝܬܐ f
- Armenian: աղջիկ (hy) (aġǰik), աղախին (hy) (aġaxin)
- Old Armenian: աղախին (ałaxin), նաժիշտ (nažišt)
- Bengali: চাকরানী (bn) (cakrani), দাসী (bn) (daśi)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 女僕 / 女仆 (zh) (nǚpú), 女傭 / 女佣 (zh) (nǚyōng), 侍女 (zh) (shìnǚ)
- Finnish: palvelijatar (fi), piika (fi)
- French: servante (fr) f
- German: Zugehfrau (de) f (dated), Mensch (de) n (archaic), Mamsell (de) f (dated), Dienstmädchen (de) n, Hausmädchen (de) n, Thusnelda (de) f (dated), Minna (de) f (archaic), Perle (de) f (dated, slang), Filine f (archaic, student slang), Besen (de) m (archaic, humorous), Magd (de) f
- Greek:
- Ancient: θεράπαινα f (therápaina)
- Hindi: दासी (hi) (dāsī), नौकरानी (hi) (naukrānī)
- Hungarian: szolgálólány (hu), cselédlány (hu)
- Ingrian: gornicnoi, piika
- Irish: banseirbhíseach m
- Middle Irish: cailín m
- Old Irish: banóclach f
- Japanese: 仕え女 (つかえめ, tsukaeme)
- Latin: ancula f, famula f
- Persian: کنیز (fa) (kaniz)
- Portuguese: criada (pt) f, serviçal (pt) f
- Russian: прислу́га (ru) f (prislúga), служа́нка (ru) f (služánka)
- Scottish Gaelic: ban-òglach f
- Spanish: criada (es) f, moza (es) f
- Swedish: husa (sv)
- Tibetan: གཡོག་མོ (g.yog mo)
- Tocharian B: mañiya
- West Frisian: faam (fy) c
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