Etymograph

English

housewife

Housewife comes from Middle English houswyf ‘a housewife’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500houswyf1‘a housewife’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1828housewife1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English housewife
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times: “It was a housewife, containing needles, a bodkin, and…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500houswyfWiktionary, English housewife‘a housewife’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1828housewifeWiktionary, English housewife. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times: “It was a housewife, containing needles, a bodkin, and…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with housewife, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Middle English houswyf ‘a housewife’

1 more relative in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A woman whose main employment is homemaking, maintaining the upkeep of her home and tending to household affairs; often, such a woman whose sole [unpaid] employment is homemaking.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “housewife”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English houswyf / housewife