Dictionary

charwoman en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English char Proto-Germanic *wībą Proto-West Germanic *wīb Old English wīf Proto-Indo-European *mon- Proto-Germanic *mann- Proto-West Germanic *mann Old English mann Old English wīfmann Middle English woman Middle English -woman English -woman English charwoman From char + -woman.

Meanings

1. (UK) A woman employed to do housework, traditionally coming and going on a daily basis and paid weekly wages.
   • But there was nobody at Kig and Kadgit's except the charwoman wiping over the “lino” in the passage. 1919, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Pictures”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 163:
   • This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
   • Through a partly-opened door the noise of a scrubbing-brush led up to the charwoman, Maryann Money, a person who for a face had a circular disc, furrowed less by age than by long gazes of perplexity at distant objects. 1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter IX, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:
   • The cloth was laid by an occasional charwoman, who officiated in the capacity of Mr. Bob Sawyer’s housekeeper; […] 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter XXXVIII, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
   • [H]e described the speech of the charwoman washing the hotel stairs and gave lists of words collected from the bathmen. 1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 75:

Forms

Coordinates

char-boy

Deriveds

charwomanly

Synonyms

char · Cinderella · cleaning woman · charlady

Translations (40)

es mujer de la limpieza (cleaning lady) · cmn 清潔女工 /清洁女工 (cleaning lady) · he מנקה (cleaning lady) · fr femme de ménage (cleaning lady) · sv städerska (cleaning lady) · cmn 打雜女工 /打杂女工 (cleaning lady) · fi kotiapulainen (cleaning lady) · bg приходя́ща чиста́чка (cleaning lady) · fr nettoyeuse (cleaning lady) · hu takarítónő (cleaning lady) · ro femeie de serviciu (cleaning lady) · bg дома́шна помо́щница (cleaning lady) · ko 가정부 (cleaning lady) · nl schoonmaakster (cleaning lady) · et passija (cleaning lady) · fi siivooja (cleaning lady) · hy հավաքարարուհի (cleaning lady) · nl meid (cleaning lady) · ru домрабо́тница (cleaning lady) · ko 소제부 (cleaning lady) · no vaskedame (cleaning lady) · cmn 女清潔工 /女清洁工 (cleaning lady) · ja 掃除婦 (cleaning lady) · pt empregada (cleaning lady) · nl poetsvrouw (cleaning lady) · ru убо́рщица (cleaning lady) · ru подёнщица (cleaning lady) · bg жена́ за чи́стене (cleaning lady) · ja 家政婦 (cleaning lady) · pt arrumadeira (cleaning lady) · fr femme de service (cleaning lady) · fr femme de journée (cleaning lady) · de Putzfrau (cleaning lady) · cmn 家政女工 (cleaning lady) · da rengøringsdame (cleaning lady) · sv hembiträde (cleaning lady) · fr technicienne de surface (cleaning lady) · pl sprzątaczka (cleaning lady) · mk измеќарка (cleaning lady) · cmn 女保洁員 (cleaning lady)