Etymology

housekeeper

house·keep·er
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Today it means: Someone (traditionally a woman) employed to look after the home, typically by managing domestic servants or superintending household management; also someone with equivalent duties in a hotel, institution etc. Full definition →

First used 16th c.
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The story

From house + keeper.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 16th c. Someone (traditionally a woman) employed to look after the home, typically by managing domestic servants or superintending household management; also someone with equivalent duties in a hotel, institution etc.
  • from 17th c. Someone who manages the running of a home, traditionally the female head of the household.
  • from 18th c. Someone who keeps to their house; someone who rarely ventures away from home; an unadventurous person, a homebody.
  • from 15th c. Someone who owns a house as a place of residence; a householder.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.