spinster

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈspɪnstə/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• General-American: /ˈspɪnstɚ/
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• rhymes with -ɪnstə(ɹ)
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• CMU ARPABET: S P IH1 N S T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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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.

145 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: oujongnooi — unmarried woman
• Arabic: عَانِس (ʕānis) — unmarried woman
• Armenian: տանը մնացած (tanə mnacʻac) — unmarried woman
• Armenian: պառաված օրիորդ (paṙavac ōriord) — unmarried woman
• Azerbaijani: qoca qız — unmarried woman
• Azerbaijani: qarımış qız — unmarried woman
• Bashkir: ҡарт ҡыҙ (qart qıź) — unmarried woman
• Basque: neskazahar — unmarried woman
• Belarusian: стара́я дзе́ва (starája dzjéva) — unmarried woman
• Bulgarian: ста́ра мо́ма (stára móma) — unmarried woman
• Burmese: အပျိုကြီး (a.pyui-kri:) — unmarried woman
• Catalan: conca — unmarried woman
• Chechen: ойна (ojna) — unmarried woman
• Chinese Mandarin: 老處女 /老处女 (lǎochǔnǚ) — unmarried woman
• Chinese Mandarin: 剩女 (shèngnǚ) — unmarried woman
• Czech: stará panna — unmarried woman
• Danish: pebermø — unmarried woman
• Dutch: oude vrijster — unmarried woman
• Dutch: ongehuwde vrouw — unmarried woman
• Estonian: vanatüdruk — unmarried woman
• Finnish: vanhapiika — unmarried woman
• French: vieille fille — unmarried woman
• Galician: poula — unmarried woman
• Galician: solteirona — unmarried woman
• Georgian: შინაბერა (šinabera) — unmarried woman
• German: alte Jungfer — unmarried woman
• German: Junggesellin — unmarried woman
• German: unverheiratete Frau — unmarried woman
• German: älteres Fräulein — unmarried woman
• Greek: γεροντοκόρη (gerontokóri) — unmarried woman
• Hebrew: רַוָּקָה זְקֵנָה (ravaká z'kená) — unmarried woman
• Hebrew: בְּתוּלָה זְקֵנָה (betulá z'kená) — unmarried woman
• Hindi: बूढ़ी कुँवारी (būṛhī kũvārī) — unmarried woman
• Hungarian: vénkisasszony — unmarried woman
• Hungarian: aggszűz — unmarried woman
• Hungarian: vénlány — unmarried woman
• Icelandic: piparmey — unmarried woman
• Ido: damzelo — unmarried woman
• Indonesian: perawan tua — unmarried woman
• Ingrian: vanhatyttö — unmarried woman
• Irish: bean shingil — unmarried woman
• Irish: puisbhean — unmarried woman
• Italian: zitella — unmarried woman
• Japanese: オールドミス (ōrudo misu) — unmarried woman
• Japanese: 売れ残り (urenokori) — unmarried woman
• Japanese: ハイミス (haimisu) — unmarried woman
• Kazakh: кәрі қыз (kärı qyz) — unmarried woman
• Khmer: ព្រៅ (prɨw) — unmarried woman
• Khmer: សាវកែ (saawkae) — unmarried woman
• Khmer: ក្រមុំចាស់ (krɑɑmum cah) — unmarried woman
• Khmer: ស្ត្រីព្រៅ (strəy prɨw) — unmarried woman
• Korean: 올드 미스 (oldeu miseu) — unmarried woman
• Korean: 노처녀 (nocheonyeo) — unmarried woman
• Korean: 로처녀 (rocheonyeo) — unmarried woman
• Kyrgyz: кары кыз (karı kız) — unmarried woman
• Lao: ນາງສາວແກ່ (nāng sāo kǣ) — unmarried woman
• Latvian: vecmeita — unmarried woman
• Lithuanian: senmergė — unmarried woman
• Lü: ᦉᦱᧁᦏᧁᧉ (ṡaawṫhaw2) — unmarried woman
• Macedonian: стара мома (stara moma) — unmarried woman
• Malay: andartu — unmarried woman
• Manx: ben sneeuee — unmarried woman
• Māori: wahine takakau — unmarried woman
• Māori: takakau — unmarried woman
• Māori: wahine taumaro — unmarried woman
• Māori: maro kau — unmarried woman
• Māori: marokore — unmarried woman
• Māori: wahine kiritapu — unmarried woman
• Mongolian: гэртээ өтөлсөн эмэгтэй (gertee ötölsön emegtej) — unmarried woman
• Mongolian: нөхөргүй эмэгтэй (nöxörgüj emegtej) — unmarried woman
• Mongolian: хөгшин хүүхэн (xögšin xüüxen) — unmarried woman
• Mongolian: гэртээ хөгширсөн эмэгтэй (gertee xögširsön emegtej) — unmarried woman
• Norwegian Bokmål: attergløyme — unmarried woman
• Norwegian Bokmål: peppermø — unmarried woman
• Norwegian Bokmål: peppermøy — unmarried woman
• Norwegian Nynorsk: attergløyme — unmarried woman
• Norwegian Nynorsk: peparmøy — unmarried woman
• Pashto: په کور ناسته پېغله (pə kor nāstə peǧlá) — unmarried woman
• Pashto: ستۍ (satǝ́y) — unmarried woman
• Pashto: مجرده (mojrada) — unmarried woman
• Iranian Persian: پیرْدُخْتَر (pirdoxtar) — unmarried woman
• Polish: stara panna — unmarried woman
• Portuguese: solteira — unmarried woman
• Portuguese: solteirona — unmarried woman
• Portuguese: encalhada — unmarried woman
• Romanian: fată bătrână — unmarried woman
• Russian: ста́рая де́ва (stáraja déva) — unmarried woman
• Russian: векову́ха (vekovúxa) — unmarried woman
• Scottish Gaelic: seana-mhaighdeann — unmarried woman
• Serbo-Croatian: бабадевојка — unmarried woman
• Serbo-Croatian: бабадјевојка — unmarried woman
• Serbo-Croatian: усѝделица — unmarried woman
• Serbo-Croatian: усѝдјелица — unmarried woman
• Serbo-Croatian: babadevojka — unmarried woman
• Serbo-Croatian: babadjevojka — unmarried woman
• Serbo-Croatian: usìdelica — unmarried woman
• Serbo-Croatian: usìdjelica — unmarried woman
• Shan: သၢဝ်ၵႄႇ (sǎao kàae) — unmarried woman
• Sicilian: schetta — unmarried woman
• Slovak: stará panna — unmarried woman
• Slovene: stara devica — unmarried woman
• Sotho: lefetwa — unmarried woman
• Spanish: solterona — unmarried woman
• Spanish: quedada — unmarried woman
• Swedish: ungmö — unmarried woman
• Swedish: fröken — unmarried woman
• Tagalog: pindangga — unmarried woman
• Tajik: духтари пир (duxtar-i pir) — unmarried woman
• Tajik: пирдухтар (pirduxtar) — unmarried woman
• Tatar: карт кыз (qart qız) — unmarried woman
• Thai: เทื้อ (tʉ́ʉa) — unmarried woman
• Thai: ทึนทึก (tʉn-tʉ́k) — unmarried woman
• Thai: สาวทึนทึก (sǎao-tʉn-tʉ́k) — unmarried woman
• Thai: สาวแก่ (sǎao-gɛ̀ɛ) — unmarried woman
• Turkish: kalmış — unmarried woman
• Turkish: yaşlı kız — unmarried woman
• Turkish: kız kurusu — unmarried woman
• Turkmen: garry gyz — unmarried woman
• Ukrainian: стара́ ді́ва (stará díva) — unmarried woman
• Urdu: بُوڑی کُن٘واری (būṛī kũvārī) — unmarried woman
• Uyghur: قېرى قىز (qëri qiz) — unmarried woman
• Uzbek: qari qiz — unmarried woman
• Vietnamese: bà cô già — unmarried woman
• Vietnamese: gái già — unmarried woman
• Welsh: hen ferch — unmarried woman
• Dutch: spindoctor — one who spins a political media story
• Catalan: filador — obsolete: occupation
• Catalan: filadora — obsolete: occupation
• Dutch: spinner — obsolete: occupation
• Dutch: spinster — obsolete: occupation
• Finnish: kehrääjä — obsolete: occupation
• French: fileur — obsolete: occupation
• French: fileuse — obsolete: occupation
• Galician: fiandeiro — obsolete: occupation
• Galician: fiandeira — obsolete: occupation
• German: Spinner — obsolete: occupation
• German: Spinnerin — obsolete: occupation
• Hungarian: kézifonónő — obsolete: occupation
• Manx: ben sneeuee — obsolete: occupation
• Middle English: spynnestere — obsolete: occupation
• Middle English: spynnere — obsolete: occupation
• Portuguese: fiadeiro — obsolete: occupation
• Portuguese: fiadeira — obsolete: occupation
• Russian: сучильщица (sučilʹščica) — obsolete: occupation
• Russian: прядильщица (prjadilʹščica) — obsolete: occupation