domestic servant
Hired home worker
A domestic servant is a person employed to perform household tasks in someone else's home—cooking, cleaning, childcare, and similar duties.
The term encompasses positions like maids, butlers, housekeepers, and nannies.
The estate employed a staff of domestic servants.
The phrase sounds formal or historical; modern usage often prefers specific job titles or simply "housekeeper."
Personal servant or parker
- butlerChief domestic servant
- manservantMale domestic employee
- houseboyMale domestic servant
- housemanMale domestic attendant
groom · coachman · chauffeur · stableboy · groundskeeper · gardener · handyman · page
Hired child caretaker
- governessPrivate household teacher
- nursemaidDomestic child caretaker
- au pairForeign live-in childcare worker
- childminderProfessional youth caretaker
nurse · wet nurse · ayah · amah · mother's helper · baby nurse · caregiver · minder
Heat food for eating
- chambermaidHotel room attendant
- parlormaidHousehold servant serving guests
- scullery maidLowest-ranking female kitchen servant
- laundressWoman who washes clothes
charwoman · kitchen maid · tweeny · daily · cleaner · hired help · live-in · retainer
valet
Personal servant or parker
- butlerChief domestic servant
- manservantMale domestic employee
- houseboyMale domestic servant
houseman · groom · coachman · chauffeur · stableboy · groundskeeper · gardener · handyman · page · pageboy
nanny
Hired child caretaker
- governessPrivate household teacher
- nursemaidDomestic child caretaker
- au pairForeign live-in childcare worker
childminder · nurse · wet nurse · ayah · amah · mother's helper · baby nurse · caregiver · minder
cook
Heat food for eating
- chambermaidHotel room attendant
- parlormaidHousehold servant serving guests
- scullery maidLowest-ranking female kitchen servant
laundress · charwoman · kitchen maid · tweeny · daily · cleaner · hired help · live-in · retainer · menial
lady's maid
Female personal attendant
seneschal
Medieval lord's chief administrator
- bailiffLegal proceeding overseer
- chamberlainRoyal household administrator
- liverymanStable business operator
lackey · flunkey · servitor · scullion · potboy · serf · vassal · retinue
- household staffmaid, butler, cook, nanny, chambermaid
- servantsbutler, maid, domestics, valet, maids
- Victorian Jobschimney sweep, milliner, blacksmith, cobbler, lamplighter
- social classupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, social class
- farm laborfarmhands, farm labor, field hand, field hands, farm hand
- unfree laborersslave, chattel slave, bondsman, bondswoman, bondservant
domestic servantmaster
Authority or controller
employer · mistress · lord · householder · head of household
domestic servantfamily member
Person connected by blood
guest · houseguest · kin · resident · homeowner
domestic servantbusiness owner
Someone running their enterprise
factory worker · office worker · public employee · freelancer · independent contractor
serve, serving, domestic, servant, served, server, housekeeper, domesticated, servitude