Charwomen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term referring to women employed for cleaning and domestic work, often in households or commercial establishments
2. A designation for female cleaners who perform various housekeeping tasks
3. Specifically used to describe women engaged in janitorial work within residential or public spaces

Etymology: The plural "charwomen" is simply the regular plural of "charwoman," so the story lies in the singular. The "woman" half descends from Old English "wīfmann," a compound of "wīf" (wife, or woman in the general sense) and "mann" (person), which over the centuries merged into the single word "woman" in Middle English. The first half, "char," is an older word meaning a task or a turn of work. It comes from Old English "cierr," meaning a turn or occasion, and it is related to "chore" and "char" in the sense of a casual job. Put together, a charwoman was a woman hired by the day to do a particular job of housework, rather than a permanent servant living in the household. The word is a plain English compound, formed from native English materials, so no foreign borrowing is involved.

Synonyms: cleaners, housekeepers, maids, janitors, domestics