noun
Meaning 1
A woman paid to educate children in their own home.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: governoress
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
governess
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.
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US: /ˈɡʌvɚnəs/
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UK: /ˈɡʌvənəs/
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UK: /ˌɡʌvəˈnɛs/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: G AH1 V ER0 N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A female governor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: governoress, gubernatrix
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
The wife of a governor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: governoress
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To work as governess; to educate children in their own home.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
a woman entrusted with the care and supervision of a child (especially in a private home)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: teacher, instructor
History
Etymology
From Middle English governesse, a contracted form of governeresse, from Old French governeresse (“female ruler or administrator”). In later senses, equivalent to govern(or) + -ess.
Across languages
Translations
25 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: гувернантка (guvernantka) — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Chinese Mandarin: 姥 (mǔ) — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Esperanto: guvernistino — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Finnish: kotiopettajatar — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- French: gouvernante — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- German: Hauslehrerin — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- German: Erzieherin — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- German: Gouvernante — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Hungarian: nevelőnő — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Italian: governante — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Italian: istitutrice — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Macedonian: гуверна́нта (guvernánta) — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Norwegian Bokmål: guvernante — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Norwegian Nynorsk: guvernante — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Polish: guwernantka — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Portuguese: governanta — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Romanian: guvernantă — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Russian: гуверна́нтка (guvernántka) — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Russian: воспита́тельница (vospitátelʹnica) — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Spanish: institutriz — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Swahili: mlezi — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Swedish: guvernant — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- Tagalog: gintay — woman paid to educate children in their own home
- French: gouverneuse — female governor
- Portuguese: governatriz — female governor
Real reading context