maid English · revision 15379

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=clipping|attested=c. 1200}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /meɪd/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|maide]], a shortened form of [[maiden]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) with the loss of -n as in [[clue]], [[eve]] and [[game]].^(Hoad 1986) Barnhart notes a striking coincidence with [[de|Maid]], a poetic word in German.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==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);^(Etymonline) a young woman or female servant probably before 1200, in Layamon's ''Brut'', in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Like maiden, it was used in Middle English of unmarried men as well as women,^(Etymonline) and Trench notes that as a word for a virgin it could be applied to Sir Galahad as freely as to Joan of Arc.^(Trench 1859)^(OED 1989) A virgin is from about 1300,^(Etymonline) and a maidservant or lady-in-waiting from the same time,^(Etymonline) the humbler sense of a domestic servant arising by about 1500.^(Etymonline) The maid-of-all-work is from 1809.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – an unmarried woman.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1300 – a virgin; a female attendant.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1340 – a man who is a virgin.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1500 – a domestic servant.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1809 – maid-of-all-work.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A female [[servant]], especially one who does housework: ''a hotel maid''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(archaic or literary)'' A girl or young unmarried woman; a [[maiden]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A [[virgin]].^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[maidish]]

+ * [[maidishness]]

+ * [[barmaid]]

+ * [[bondmaid]]

+ * [[bridesmaid]]

+ * [[chambermaid]]

+ * [[dairymaid]]

+ * [[handmaid]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[maiden]]

+ * [[mermaid]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}