spinster English · revision 196

5 Oct 2026, 22:15 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, meanings, word family, related words” current version
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈspɪnstə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈspɪnstɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+ 
  ==Etymology==
− From [[enm|spinnestere|t=female spinner of thread]] (late 14th century),^(AHD)^(Etymonline) formed [[af|en|spin|-ster]].^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)
+ From [[enm|spinnestere|t=female spinner of thread]],^(AHD)^(Etymonline) formed [[af|en|spin|-ster]],^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(RHWU) with ''-ster'' originally a feminine suffix.^(Etymonline) Compare Middle Dutch and Dutch ''spinster''.^(OED 1989)
  
− Because unmarried women were expected to occupy themselves with spinning, from the 1600s the word became the legal designation in England of unmarried women,^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) and by 1719 was used generically of a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age.^(Etymonline) Compare Middle Dutch and Dutch ''spinster''.^(OED 1989)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A woman who spins thread (late 14th century), occasionally also a man.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Because unmarried women were expected to occupy themselves with spinning, from the 1600s the word became the legal designation in England of unmarried women,^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary)^(OED 1989) and by 1719 it was used generally of a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A double-feminine ''spinstress'' “female spinner” (1640s) was also used by 1716 for “a maiden lady”.^(Etymonline) In political slang a ''spinster'' can also be one who puts a favourable spin on a story.^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1362 – “a woman who spins”.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1380 – appended to women's names.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1617 – described as a term of the Common Law for unmarried maids.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1719 – “a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age”.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1842 – the slang shortening ''spin''.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A woman who has never married, especially one past the age at which women traditionally married.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(law)'' An unmarried woman.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
+ # A woman whose occupation is spinning.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[spinsterhood]]
+ * [[spinsterish]]
+ * [[spinsterly]]
+ * [[spinsterishly]]
+ * [[spinsterlike]]
  
  ==References==