housekeeper

Etymology

It is formed from English house + keeper,^[2][3][4] in late Middle English howskepare or houskeper.^[5][6] Etymonline calls it a later equivalent of householder, which the OED compares.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who owns or occupies a house and has charge of its household; a householder: before 1425, in the Medulla Grammatice.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first housekeeper was the householder, the master of a family, a sense that lasted into the 19th century and that Johnson (1755) still gave first.^[3][7][2] By 1528 the word also meant a person, traditionally a woman, employed to run a household and often in charge of the female servants;^[2] Etymonline dates the sense "female head domestic servant" to about 1600.^[4] From 1538 a good housekeeper was a hospitable host, a sense now obsolete.^[2][3] From Shakespeare's Coriolanus (before 1616) a woman managing her own household could be a good or bad housekeeper.^[2] The word also served for the caretaker of a building (1578),^[2] and for a short time for a watchdog.^[2][3] From before 1741 it was also, colloquially, a person who keeps to the house.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1425 – a householder.^[2]
• 1528 – a person employed to manage a household.^[2]
• 1538 – a hospitable person, a host (now obsolete).^[2][3]
• 1578 – a person in charge of a building; a caretaker.^[2]
• 1607 – a watchdog (obsolete).^[2]
• before 1616 – a woman managing her own household, as a good or bad housekeeper.^[2]
• before 1741 – a stay-at-home person.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person, traditionally a woman, employed to run a household or do the work of a home.^[8][5][2]
2. A person who manages his or her own household, often described as good or bad at it: My grandmother was a careful housekeeper.^[8][2]
3. A person in charge of a building or office; a caretaker.^[2][3]
4. (archaic) A householder.^[5][3][2]
5. (obsolete, 1538) A hospitable person; a host.^[5][3][2]

Word family

• housekeeperlike

Related words

• householder
• housekeeping
• keeper

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins