maidservants
Female domestic workers
Maidservants is the plural of maidservant, a female domestic worker employed in a household.
The term is old-fashioned, evoking a time when households had formal staff hierarchies: The maidservants rose before dawn to prepare the house.
In contemporary usage, it appears mainly in historical fiction, period dramas, or biblical contexts.
Live-in domestic cleaners
- chambermaidsHotel room cleaners
- sculleryRoom for dishwashing
- downstairsOn a lower floor
- uniformsStandardized institutional clothing
aprons · caps · duties · cleaning · dusting · polishing · serving · household
Of a prim era
- EdwardianOf early twentieth-century Britain
- manorLanded aristocratic residence
- estateProperty and grounds
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
gentry · upstairs downstairs · indenture · tweeny · hierarchy · butler · footman · cook
Colonial-era Indian nursemaid
- amahAsian domestic servant
- housegirlFemale domestic servant
- helperOne who aids another
- FilipinoNative of Manila's nation
Indonesian · migrant workers · remittances · live-in · agency · sponsorship · overseas · Gulf states
Rags-to-riches heroine
- fairy talesTraditional magical children's stories
- wicked stepmotherFolkloric maternal villain
- hearthFireplace floor area
- ashesBurned matter's residue
rags · transformation · romance · governess · Jane Eyre · Pamela · virtue · novels
Female domestic attendants
- bondservantsPeople bound to serve
- concubinesNon-wife sexual partners kept
- HagarSarah's Egyptian servant
- HebrewSemitic language of Israel
patriarch · Old Testament · servanthood · bondage · Leah · Rachel · masters · household
housemaids
Live-in domestic cleaners
- chambermaidsHotel room cleaners
- sculleryRoom for dishwashing
- downstairsOn a lower floor
uniforms · aprons · caps · duties · cleaning · dusting · polishing · serving · household · quarters
Victorian
Of a prim era
- EdwardianOf early twentieth-century Britain
- manorLanded aristocratic residence
- estateProperty and grounds
aristocracy · gentry · upstairs downstairs · indenture · tweeny · hierarchy · butler · footman · cook · social status
ayah
Colonial-era Indian nursemaid
Filipino · Indonesian · migrant workers · remittances · live-in · agency · sponsorship · overseas · Gulf states · Hong Kong
Cinderella
Rags-to-riches heroine
- fairy talesTraditional magical children's stories
- wicked stepmotherFolkloric maternal villain
- hearthFireplace floor area
ashes · rags · transformation · romance · governess · Jane Eyre · Pamela · virtue · novels · melodrama
handmaids
Female domestic attendants
- bondservantsPeople bound to serve
- concubinesNon-wife sexual partners kept
- HagarSarah's Egyptian servant
Hebrew · patriarch · Old Testament · servanthood · bondage · Leah · Rachel · masters · household · lineage
maidservantsmanservants
Male domestic employees
menservants · valets · butlers · footmen · houseboys
maidservantsmistresses
Female lovers outside marriage
masters · employers · lords · aristocrats · householders