Etymologically
Log in

maid

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 16:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /meɪd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English maide, a shortened form of maiden,[2][3][4][5] with the loss of -n as in clue, eve and game.[4] Barnhart notes a striking coincidence with German Maid, a poetic word in German.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An unmarried, usually young woman, and the Virgin Mary: about 1200 in Etymonline (the late 12th century in place names and surnames);[3] a young woman or female servant probably before 1200, in Layamon's Brut, in Barnhart.[2]

Semantic evolution

Like maiden, it was used in Middle English of unmarried men as well as women,[3] and Trench notes that as a word for a virgin it could be applied to Sir Galahad as freely as to Joan of Arc.[6][7] A virgin is from about 1300,[3] and a maidservant or lady-in-waiting from the same time,[3] the humbler sense of a domestic servant arising by about 1500.[3] The maid-of-all-work is from 1809.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – an unmarried woman.[3]
  • c. 1300 – a virgin; a female attendant.[3]
  • 1340 – a man who is a virgin.[7]
  • c. 1500 – a domestic servant.[3]
  • 1809 – maid-of-all-work.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A female servant, especially one who does housework: a hotel maid.
  2. (archaic or literary) A girl or young unmarried woman; a maiden.
  3. (archaic) A virgin.

Word family

  • maidish
  • maidishness
  • barmaid
  • bondmaid
  • bridesmaid
  • chambermaid
  • dairymaid
  • handmaid

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press