Etymologically
Log in

housekeeper

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 23:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈhaʊskiːpə/[1]
  • US: /ˈhaʊskipɚ/[1]

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

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