Meanings
plural housewives · plural housewifes · alternative archaic house-wife · alternative obsolete houswife · alternative obsolete huswife
- plural "housewives"A woman whose main employment is homemaking, maintaining the upkeep of her home and tending to household affairs; often, such a woman whose sole [unpaid] employment is homemaking.
2000, Uli Kusch, "Mr. Torture", Helloween, The Dark Ride Mr Torture sells pain / To the housewives in Spain / He knows just what they crave / Mr Torture
Synonyms: henhussy
- plural "housewives"The wife of a householder; the mistress of a family; the female head of a household.
- plural "housewifes"A little case or bag for materials used in sewing, and for other articles of female work.
Woffington's housewife, made by herself, homely to the eye, but holds everything in the world
1852, Tom Taylor, Charles Reade, Masks and Faces, act II2 more examples
It was a housewife, containing needles, a bodkin, and thread; ‘and, do you know,’ added he, ‘it was the most useful thing she could have given me, for it lasted all the time I was at Rome to mend my clothes with […].’
1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 246The "soldier's housewife" was a small sewing kit that was carried to make timely repairs to clothing and equipment.
1997, David L. Phillips, A Soldier's Story, MetroBooks, →ISBN, page 61Synonyms: hussy
present singular third person housewifes · participle present housewifing · participle past housewifed · past housewifed · alternative archaic house-wife · alternative obsolete houswife · alternative obsolete huswife
- alternativeAlternative form of housewive.
Career opportunity […] is the one who never knocks — especially not on the doors of women, who are still hooking, housewifing and hairdressing for their livings.
1983 December 10, Jolanta Benal, “The Second Revolution”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 21, page 14
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA woman whose main employment is homemaking, maintaining the upkeep of her home and tending to household affairs; often, such a woman whose sole [unpaid] employment is homemaking.
nounA little case or bag for materials used in sewing, and for other articles of female work.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna wife who manages a household while her husband earns the family income
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishhouswyf
- Englishhousewife
From Middle English houswyf, housewif, huswijf, equivalent to house + wife; a doublet of hussy, which it was long distinguished from and displaced due to gradual negative connotation (see Online Etymology Dictionary entry). Cognate with West Frisian húswiif, Dutch huiswijf, German Low German Huuswief, German Hausweib.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic رَبَّة مَنْزِل, رَبَّة بَيْت
- رَبَّة مَنْزِل (rabbat manzil)female head of household
- رَبَّة بَيْت (rabbat bayt)female head of household
- رَبَّة أُسْرَة (rabbat ʔusra)female head of household
Basque etxekoandre
- etxekoandrefemale head of household
Bengali গৃহবধূ, গৃহিণী
- গৃহবধূ (grihobodhu)female head of household
- গৃহিণী (grihini)female head of household
- ঘরণী (ghoroni)female head of household
Bulgarian домаки́ня, къ́щница
- домаки́ня (domakínja)female head of household
- къ́щница (kắštnica)female head of household
Catalan mestressa de casa
- mestressa de casafemale head of household
Chinese Cantonese 主婦 /主妇, 家庭主婦 /家庭主妇
- 主婦 /主妇 (zyu² fu⁵)female head of household
- 家庭主婦 /家庭主妇 (gaa¹ ting⁴ zyu² fu⁵)female head of household
- 住家婆 (zyu⁶ gaa¹ po⁴)female head of household
Chinese Mandarin 主婦 /主妇, 家庭婦女 /家庭妇女
- 主婦 /主妇 (zhǔfù)female head of household
- 家庭婦女 /家庭妇女 (jiātíng fùnǚ)female head of household
- 家庭主婦 /家庭主妇 (jiātíng zhǔfù)female head of household
- 針線包 /针线包 (zhēnxiànbāo)case for materials used in sewing
- 縫紉袋 /缝纫袋case for materials used in sewing
Czech hospodyňka, žena v domácnosti
- hospodyňkafemale head of household
- žena v domácnostifemale head of household
Danish husmor
- husmorfemale head of household
Dutch huisvrouw
- huisvrouwfemale head of household
Esperanto dommastrino, domestrino
- dommastrinofemale head of household
- domestrinofemale head of household
Estonian koduperenaine
- koduperenainefemale head of household
Finnish emäntä, kotirouva
- emäntäfemale head of household
- kotirouvafemale head of household
- perheenemäntäfemale head of household
- kotiäitifemale head of household
- käsityölaukkucase for materials used in sewing
French maîtresse de maison, femme au foyer
- maîtresse de maisonfemale head of household
- femme au foyerfemale head of household
- mère au foyerfemale head of household
- garcefemale head of household
- trousse de couturecase for materials used in sewing
- boîte à ouvragecase for materials used in sewing
German Hausfrau
- Hausfraufemale head of household
Greek νοικοκυρά, οικοδέσποινα
- νοικοκυρά (noikokyrá)female head of household
- οικοδέσποινα (oikodéspoina)female head of household
Hebrew עֲקֶרֶת בַּיִת
- עֲקֶרֶת בַּיִת (akéret báyit)female head of household
Hindi गृहिणी, घरनी
- गृहिणी (gŕhiṇī)female head of household
- घरनी (gharnī)female head of household
- घरवाली (gharvālī)female head of household
Hungarian háziasszony, varrókészlet
- háziasszonyfemale head of household
- varrókészletcase for materials used in sewing
- varródobozcase for materials used in sewing
Icelandic húsfrú, húsmóðir
- húsfrúfemale head of household
- húsmóðirfemale head of household
- húsmóðircase for materials used in sewing
Indonesian ibu rumah tangga, suri rumah
- ibu rumah tanggafemale head of household
- suri rumahfemale head of household
- kotak jahitcase for materials used in sewing
Irish bean tí
- bean tífemale head of household
Italian massaia, donna di casa
- massaiafemale head of household
- donna di casafemale head of household
- padrona di casafemale head of household
- casalingafemale head of household
Japanese 主婦
- 主婦 (shufu)female head of household
Korean 주부
- 주부 (jubu)female head of household
Latin domiseda
- domisedafemale head of household
Latvian mājsaimniece
- mājsaimniecefemale head of household
Lithuanian šeimininkė
- šeimininkėfemale head of household
Malay suri rumah
- suri rumahfemale head of household
Norwegian Bokmål husmor
- husmorfemale head of household
Polish gospodyni domowa, pani domu
- gospodyni domowafemale head of household
- pani domufemale head of household
Portuguese dona de casa, caixa de costura
- dona de casafemale head of household
- caixa de costuracase for materials used in sewing
Romanian gospodină, casnică
- gospodinăfemale head of household
- casnicăfemale head of household
Russian домохозя́йка
- домохозя́йка (domoxozjájka)female head of household
Scottish Gaelic bean-taighe
- bean-taighefemale head of household
Slovak gazdiná
- gazdináfemale head of household
Spanish ama de casa, mujer de su casa
- ama de casafemale head of household
- mujer de su casafemale head of household
- mujer de gobierno (disused)female head of household
Swedish husfru, husmor
- husfrufemale head of household
- husmorfemale head of household
- hemmafrufemale head of household
Tagalog maybahay
- maybahayfemale head of household
Thai แม่บ้าน
- แม่บ้าน (mɛ̂ɛ-bâan)female head of household
Turkish ev kadını, ev hanımı
- ev kadınıfemale head of household
- ev hanımıfemale head of household
- karıfemale head of household
Ukrainian домогоспода́рка
- домогоспода́рка (domohospodárka)female head of household
Urdu گَھر والی
- گَھر والی (ghar vālī)female head of household
Vietnamese bà nội trợ
- bà nội trợfemale head of household
Welsh gwraig tŷ, gwraig y tŷ
- gwraig tŷfemale head of household
- gwraig y tŷfemale head of household
Yiddish באַלעבאָסטע
- באַלעבאָסטע (baleboste)female head of household
Cite this entry
housewife. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/housewife
“housewife.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/housewife. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “housewife,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/housewife.
Source: housewife on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.