Standard Lemma guide

charwoman

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • CMU ARPABET: CH AA1 R W UH0 M AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A woman employed to do housework, traditionally coming and going on a daily basis and paid weekly wages.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: char, charlady, Cinderella, cleaning woman

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a human female employed to do housework

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the char will clean the carpet
  • I have a woman who comes in four hours a day while I write

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: char, cleaning woman, cleaning lady, woman

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cleaner

History

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.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: հավաքարարուհի (havakʻararuhi) — cleaning lady
  • Chinese Mandarin: 清潔女工 /清洁女工 (qīngjié nǚgōng) — cleaning lady
  • Chinese Mandarin: 家政女工 (jiāzhèng nǚgōng) — cleaning lady
  • Chinese Mandarin: 女保洁員 (nǚ bǎojiéyuán) — cleaning lady
  • Chinese Mandarin: 女清潔工 /女清洁工 (nǚ qīngjiégōng) — cleaning lady
  • Chinese Mandarin: 打雜女工 /打杂女工 (dǎzá nǚgōng) — cleaning lady
  • Danish: rengøringsdame — cleaning lady
  • Dutch: meid — cleaning lady
  • Dutch: poetsvrouw — cleaning lady
  • Dutch: schoonmaakster — cleaning lady
  • Estonian: passija — cleaning lady
  • Finnish: siivooja — cleaning lady
  • Finnish: kotiapulainen — cleaning lady
  • French: femme de ménage — cleaning lady
  • French: femme de journée — cleaning lady
  • French: femme de service — cleaning lady
  • French: technicienne de surface — cleaning lady
  • French: nettoyeuse — cleaning lady
  • German: Putzfrau — cleaning lady
  • Hebrew: מנקה (menaká) — cleaning lady
  • Hungarian: takarítónő — cleaning lady
  • Japanese: 掃除婦 (sōjifu) — cleaning lady
  • Japanese: 家政婦 (kaseifu) — cleaning lady
  • Korean: 소제부 (sojebu) — cleaning lady
  • Korean: 가정부 (gajeongbu) — cleaning lady
  • Macedonian: измеќарка (izmeḱarka) — cleaning lady
  • Norwegian: vaskedame — cleaning lady
  • Polish: sprzątaczka — cleaning lady
  • Portuguese: empregada — cleaning lady
  • Portuguese: arrumadeira — cleaning lady
  • Romanian: femeie de serviciu — cleaning lady
  • Russian: убо́рщица (ubórščica) — cleaning lady
  • Russian: подёнщица (podjónščica) — cleaning lady
  • Russian: домрабо́тница (domrabótnica) — cleaning lady
  • Spanish: mujer de la limpieza — cleaning lady
  • Swedish: städerska — cleaning lady
  • Swedish: hembiträde — cleaning lady