Link Centre Dictionary

housewife

hou·se·wife

UK/ˈhaʊs.waɪf/ US/ˈhʌzwaɪf/ fairly common

noun

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • housewife's eczema
  • sailor's housewife
  • you can't turn a hoe into a housewife

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.