Charwoman

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A female domestic servant or cleaning worker employed to do housework on a daily or part-time basis
2. A female worker whose primary responsibility involves cleaning and maintaining the tidiness of residential or commercial spaces
3. A woman employed in a cleaning role, typically within a household, responsible for tasks such as dusting, mopping, and laundry duties

Etymology: The "char" in charwoman is an older English word meaning a task or a turn of work, and it is closely related to "chore." It descends from Old English "cierr," meaning a turn or occasion, which is why a "char" was once simply a job done on a particular occasion, rather than a standing position in a household. The "woman" half is ancient and ordinary. It traces back through Old English "wīfmann," literally "wife-man" or "woman," to a Proto-Germanic root that also gave us "man" and "wife" as separate words. The compound "charwoman" is therefore a plain English formation: a woman hired for a particular turn of housework, one who came in by the day or by the job.

Synonyms: cleaning woman, maid, housekeeper