housewife

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English houswif, also husewif,^[2][3][4] formed from Middle English hous (“house”) + wif (“woman, wife”), the elements of house and wife.^{[5][2][6][7][8]} The OED compares the now archaic Dutch huiswijf, recorded in Kiliaan in 1588, and German Hausweib, while the usual Dutch and German words are huisvrouw and Hausfrau, the source of hausfrau.^[5] Latin documents written in Britain borrowed the English word as Medieval Latin huswiva from 1183.^[5] The word is a doublet of hussy, a reduced form of it,^[8][9][3] and is formed like husband.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A woman, usually married, in charge of a household: about 1225, in Sawles Warde;^[5][2] Etymonline dates the form husewif to the early 13th century.^[3] In Middle English it could also mean simply a wife or married woman.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline says that the word was first pronounced like "huzzif", and that the full spelling came into use from about 1500, partly to keep the respectable word apart from its reduced form hussy.^[3] The OED notes that pronunciations with a short first vowel, often without the w, were still common in educated speech in the 18th century.^[5] From 1546 housewife itself could mean a frivolous or disreputable woman, the sense of hussy, a use the OED records until 1898;^[5][9] Johnson (1755) remarked that housewife was used in a good sense and huswife or hussy in a bad one.^[3][10] From 1735 a housewife was also a small case for needles and thread,^[5][11] still pronounced /ˈhʌzɪf/,^[12][9] and in Britain a sewing kit issued to soldiers.^[13] The verb, to be a housewife or to manage a household, is recorded from 1566; between 1632 and 1821 it also meant to manage money thriftily, like husband.^[5][11]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – a woman in charge of a household, in Sawles Warde.^[5][2]
• c. 1500 – the full spelling housewife begins to replace the reduced pronunciation.^[3]
• 1546 – a frivolous or disreputable woman, a hussy (obsolete by 1898).^[5]
• 1566 – verb, to be a housewife, in Drant's translation of Horace.^[5][7]
• 1632 – verb, to manage resources thriftily (obsolete by 1821).^[5][11]
• 1735 – a small case for sewing things.^[5][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman, typically married, who runs a household and looks after her family, usually without paid work outside the home: She was a housewife until her children started school.^[13][7][5]
2. A small case or kit for needles, thread and other sewing things; in Britain, such a kit issued to soldiers.^[13][5][12]
3. (obsolete, 1546–1898) A frivolous or impertinent woman; a hussy.^[5][9]

Verb

1. (archaic) To manage a household, or to manage resources, with skill and economy; to economize.^[7][9][5]

Word family

• housewifeliness
• housewifely
• housewifery
• housewifey

Related words

• hussy
• husband
• hausfrau
• house
• wife

Usage notes

Dictionary.com notes that most people find housewife acceptable, but that some find it belittling because it can suggest a lowly status, and that homemaker is sometimes preferred.^[14]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
12. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House