charwoman

charwoman

See also: char-woman

English

Alternative forms

• char-woman

Etymology

From char +‎ -woman.

Noun

charwoman (plural charwomen)

1. (chiefly Britain) A woman employed to do housework.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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.

Note: In the nineteenth century, the charlady worked for weekly wages and usually came and went on a daily basis.

Synonyms

• charlady
• Cinderella (disparaging)
• cleaning woman

Translations

awoman employed to do housework

Armenian: հավաքարարուհի (hy) (havakʿararuhi) Chinese: Mandarin: 清潔女工, 清洁女工 (qīngjié nǚgōng), 家政女工 (jiāzhèng nǚgōng), 女保洁員, 女保洁员 (nǚ bǎojiéyuán), 女清潔工, 女清洁工 (nǚ qīngjiégōng), 打雜女工, 打杂女工 (dǎzá nǚgōng) Dutch: poetsvrouw (nl), schoonmaakster (nl) f Estonian: passija Finnish: taloudenhoitaja (fi) French: technicienne de surface (fr) f, femme de ménage (fr) f, nettoyeuse (fr) f German: Putzfrau (de) f Hebrew: עוזרת בית‎ f (ozéret báit)

Hungarian: bejárónő (hu) Japanese: 掃除婦 (そうじふ, sōjifu), 家政婦 (ja) (かせいふ, kaseifu) Korean: 소제부 (sojebu) (掃除婦), 가정부 (ko) (gajeongbu) (家政婦 (ko)) Macedonian: измеќарка f (izméḱarka) Polish: sprzątaczka (pl) f Portuguese: empregada (pt) f, arrumadeira (pt) f Russian: убо́рщица (ru) f (ubórščica), подёнщица (ru) f (podjónščica), домрабо́тница (ru) f (domrabótnica) Spanish: limpiadora (es) f