frau
English
Etymology
Borrowed from German Frau. Doublet of frow and vrouw.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fɹaʊ/
- Rhymes: -aʊ
Noun
frau (plural fraus)
- A woman, especially a German woman.
- 2007 January 12, Grace Glueck, “Fun With Studio Crafts: When the Traditional Gets Quirky”, in New York Times:
- It presents Dürer’s mother as a sharp-nosed, world-weary German frau looking wryly out at life from under a decorous wimple.
-
Derived terms
- house frau
Translations
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Anagrams
- Rauf, Urfa, fuar
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin fraus.
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA(key): /ˈfɾaw/
- Rhymes: -aw
Noun
frau m (plural fraus)
- fraud
Related terms
- fraudulent
Further reading
- “frau” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “frau”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
- “frau” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “frau” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
German
Etymology
From Frau by making the first letter lower-case. Coined as an alternative to the male-sounding word man (“one”), which is cognate and homophonous with Mann (“adult male”). First used by feminists when writing about women, then occasionally used in general contexts.[1][2] Compare the pronoun mensch. Compare also the use of she vs he in English to refer to someone whose gender is unknown.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fraʊ̯/
- Homophone: Frau
audio (file) - Rhymes: -aʊ̯
Pronoun
frau
- (indefinite, informal, slang, rare, often humorous) one, they (indefinite third-person singular pronoun)
- 1998, Matthias Matussek, Die vaterlose Gesellschaft: überfällige Anmerkungen zum Geschlechterkampf, page 47:
- Sie ist selbst dann noch beschissen, wenn frau sie beendet hat.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 2003, Ulrike Schlicht, Selbsterweiterungsprozesse alleinlebender Frauen, →ISBN, page 218:
- Wenn frau sich kennt, braucht sie nicht vor sich wegzulaufen.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 2005, Aslı Sevindim, Candlelight Döner. Geschichten über meine deutsch-türkische Familie, Berlin: Ullstein, →ISBN, page 220:
- […] ich ziehe es heraus und halte es in die Höhe … Mein Gott, es ist ein Still-BH. Meine Augen kleben förmlich daran. Ein Büstenhalter, den frau vorne aufmachen kann …
- […] I pull it out and hold it into the height … Dear God, it is a nursing bra. My eyes were like they cleft to it. A brassière the woman can open in the front …
- 2008, Gaye Suse Kromer, Obszöne Lust oder etablierte Unterhaltung?, page 163:
- Erst mal sechs Jahre alleine und frau muss auch zusehen, dass sie sich gerne hat. Das liebe ich, mit mir selbst zu sein und mich zu mögen und mich zu streicheln.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 2008, L. Schäfer, Gemeindepädagogisches Forum 2008; Abschlussimpuls:
- … und wenn man / frau älter wird?
- … and when one gets older?
- 1998, Matthias Matussek, Die vaterlose Gesellschaft: überfällige Anmerkungen zum Geschlechterkampf, page 47:
Usage notes
- The word is more frequently used by left-wing and/or feminist writers and speakers, which may use this word in a serious formal context, where this word is not usually acceptable, in order to express their political views. In informal context, such as magazine articles, frau is usually used just once in a text as a stylistic flourish to underline that a women-specific topic is discussed.
References
- Petra Storjohann, Diachrone Angaben im Wortartikel frau, page 320, in Grundfragen der elektronischen Lexikographie, edited by Ulrike Haß, →ISBN.
- Theo Stemmler: Wie das Eisbein ins Lexikon kam, page 15, →ISBN.
Further reading
- “frau” in Duden online
- “frau” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
Norwegian Nynorsk
Alternative forms
- fraud
Etymology
From Old Norse frauð.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /frœʊ̯ː/
- Rhymes: -œʊ̯ː
Noun
frau f or m (definite singular frauen or fraua, indefinite plural frauer or frauar, definite plural frauene or frauane)
- (chiefly uncountable, dialectal) foam
- (chiefly uncountable, dialectal, Trøndelag) dung; manure
Inflection
Historical inflection of frau
Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard. Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier. Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen. 1Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century. 2Aasen lists Frau as an alternative form to Fraud. 3The official glossary only lists the form fraud. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Related terms
- frode
References
- “frau” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Anagrams
- frua, fura