spinster

spinster

English

Etymology

From Middle English spynnestere (“woman who spins fibre”), from c. 1350; equivalent to spin +‎ -ster. The semantic development is from a historical notion of unmarried women spinning thread for a living.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪnstə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪnstɚ/

Noun

spinster (plural spinsters)

1. (sometimes derogatory) A woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age according to social traditions.

   Synonym: old maid

   • 1628–1644, Edw[ard] Coke, (please specify |part=1 to 4), London:

     If […] a woman be named spinster, she may abate […] the same [writ].

2. One who spins (puts a spin on) a political media story so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance; a spin doctor, spin merchant or spinmeister.
3. (obsolete) Someone whose occupation was spinning thread.
   • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iv]:

     The spinsters and the knitters in the sun.

4. (obsolete) A woman of evil life and character; so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
5. (rare, dialectal) A spider; an insect (such as a silkworm) which spins thread.

Translations

unmarried woman

Afrikaans: oujongnooi Arabic: عَانِس‎ f (ʿānis) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Bashkir: ҡарт ҡыҙ (qart qıð) Basque: neskazahar (eu) Belarusian: стара́я дзе́ва f (starája dzjéva) Bulgarian: ста́ра мо́ма f (stára móma) Catalan: conca (ca) f Chechen: ойна (ojna) Chinese: Mandarin: 老處女／老处女 (zh) (lǎochǔnǚ), 剩女 (zh) (shèngnǚ) Czech: stará panna f Danish: pebermø c Dutch: oude vrijster f, ongehuwde vrouw f Estonian: vanatüdruk Finnish: vanhapiika (fi) French: vieille fille (fr) f Galician: poula f, solteirona f German: alte Jungfer f, Junggesellin (de) f, unverheiratete Frau f Greek: γεροντοκόρη (el) f (gerontokóri) Hungarian: vénkisasszony (hu) Ido: damzelo (io) Irish: bean shingil f, puisbhean f (aging spinster) Italian: zitella (it) f Japanese: オールドミス (ja) (ōrudo misu) ("old miss"), 売れ残り (ja) (うれのこり, urenokori), ハイミス (haimisu) Kazakh: кәріқыз (kärıqyz) Korean: 올드 미스 (oldeu miseu), 노처녀(老處女) (nocheonyeo), 로처녀(老處女) (rocheonyeo) (North Korea) Lao: ນາງສາວແກ່ (nāng sāo kǣ) Lü: ᦉᦱᧁᦏᧁᧉ (ṡaawṫhaw²) Macedonian: стара мома f (stara moma) Manx: ben sneeuee f Maori: wahine takakau, takakau, wahine taumaro, maro kau, marokore, wahine kiritapu Norwegian: Bokmål: attergløyme m or f, peppermø (no) m or f, peppermøy m or f Nynorsk: attergløyme f, peparmøy f Polish: stara panna (pl) f Portuguese: solteira (pt) f, solteirona (pt) f, encalhada f Romanian: fată bătrână (ro) f Russian: ста́рая де́ва (ru) f (stáraja déva), векову́ха (ru) f (vekovúxa) Scottish Gaelic: seana-mhaighdeann f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: бабадевојка f, бабадјевојка f, усѝделица f, усѝдјелица f Roman: babadevojka (sh) f, babadjevojka f, usìdelica f, usìdjelica (sh) f Shan: သၢဝ်ၵႄႇ (shn) (sǎao kàae) Sicilian: schetta f Slovak: stará panna f Slovene: stara devica f Sotho: lefetwa Spanish: solterona (es) f, quedada (es) f Swedish: ungmö (sv) c, fröken (sv) c Tagalog: pindangga (old maid) Thai: เทื้อ (tʉ́ʉa), ทึนทึก, สาวทึนทึก, สาวแก่ Turkish: kalmış (tr) Ukrainian: стара́ ді́ва f (stará díva) Vietnamese: bà cô già Welsh: hen ferch f

one who spins a political media story

Dutch: spindoctor (nl)

obsolete: occupation

Catalan: filador (ca) m Dutch: spinner (nl), spinster (nl) Finnish: kehrääjä (fi) Galician: fiandeiro m, fiandeira f Hungarian: kézifonónő Manx: ben sneeuee f Middle English: spynnestere, spynnere Portuguese: fiadeiro m, fiadeira f

See also

• bachelor
• bachelorette
• widow
• divorcee
• thornback

Further reading

• spinster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Prentiss, prestins

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Dutch

Etymology

From spinnen (“to spin”) +‎ -ster.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

spinster f (plural spinsters, diminutive spinstertje n)

1. a female spinner