spinster

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪnstə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪnstɚ/

Noun

spinster (plural spinsters)

1. (sometimes derogatory) A woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age according to social traditions.

   Synonym: old maid

   • 1628–1644, Edw[ard] Coke, (please specify |part=1 to 4), London:

     If […] a woman be named spinster, she may abate […] the same [writ].

2. One who spins (puts a spin on) a political media story so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance; a spin doctor, spin merchant or spinmeister.
3. (obsolete) Someone whose occupation was spinning thread.
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     The spinsters and the knitters in the sun.

4. (obsolete) A woman of evil life and character; so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
5. (rare, dialectal) A spider; an insect (such as a silkworm) which spins thread.

Translations

unmarried woman

• Afrikaans: oujongnooi
• Arabic: عَانِس f (ʕānis)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bashkir: ҡарт ҡыҙ (qart qıź)
• Basque: neskazahar (eu)
• Belarusian: стара́я дзе́ва f (starája dzjéva)
• Bulgarian: ста́ра мо́ма f (stára móma)
• Catalan: conca (ca) f
• Chechen: ойна (ojna)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 老處女／老处女 (zh) (lǎochǔnǚ), 剩女 (zh) (shèngnǚ)

• Czech: stará panna f
• Danish: pebermø c
• Dutch: oude vrijster f, ongehuwde vrouw f
• Estonian: vanatüdruk
• Finnish: vanhapiika (fi)
• French: vieille fille (fr) f
• Galician: poula f, solteirona f
• German: alte Jungfer f, Junggesellin (de) f, unverheiratete Frau f, älteres Fräulein f
• Greek: γεροντοκόρη (el) f (gerontokóri)
• Hungarian: vénkisasszony (hu)
• Ido: damzelo (io)
• Ingrian: vanhatyttö
• Irish: bean shingil f, puisbhean f (aging spinster)
• Italian: zitella (it) f
• Japanese: オールドミス (ja) (ōrudo misu) ("old miss"), 売れ残り (ja) (うれのこり, urenokori), ハイミス (haimisu)
• Kazakh: кәріқыз (kärıqyz)
• Korean: 올드 미스 (oldeu miseu), 노처녀(老處女) (nocheonyeo), 로처녀(老處女) (rocheonyeo) (North Korea)
• Lao: ນາງສາວແກ່ (nāng sāo kǣ)
• Lü: ᦉᦱᧁᦏᧁᧉ (ṡaawṫhaw²)
• Macedonian: стара мома f (stara moma)
• Manx: ben sneeuee f
• Maori: wahine takakau, takakau, wahine taumaro, maro kau, marokore, wahine kiritapu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: attergløyme m or f, peppermø (no) m or f, peppermøy m or f

  Nynorsk: attergløyme f, peparmøy f

• Polish: stara panna (pl) f
• Portuguese: solteira (pt) f, solteirona (pt) f, encalhada f
• Romanian: fată bătrână (ro) f
• Russian: ста́рая де́ва (ru) f (stáraja déva), векову́ха (ru) f (vekovúxa)
• Scottish Gaelic: seana-mhaighdeann f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бабадевојка f, бабадјевојка f, усѝделица f, усѝдјелица f

  Roman: babadevojka (sh) f, babadjevojka f, usìdelica f, usìdjelica (sh) f

• Shan: သၢဝ်ၵႄႇ (shn) (sǎao kàae)
• Sicilian: schetta f
• Slovak: stará panna f
• Slovene: stara devica f
• Sotho: lefetwa
• Spanish: solterona (es) f, quedada (es) f
• Swedish: ungmö (sv) c, fröken (sv) c
• Tagalog: pindangga (old maid)
• Thai: เทื้อ (tʉ́ʉa), ทึนทึก, สาวทึนทึก, สาวแก่
• Turkish: kalmış (tr)
• Ukrainian: стара́ ді́ва f (stará díva)
• Vietnamese: bà cô già
• Welsh: hen ferch f

one who spins a political media story

• Dutch: spindoctor (nl) m

obsolete: occupation

• Catalan: filador (ca) m, filadora (ca) f
• Dutch: spinner (nl) m, spinster (nl) f
• German: Spinner (de) m, Spinnerin (de) f
• Finnish: kehrääjä (fi)
• French: fileur (fr) m, fileuse (fr) f
• Galician: fiandeiro m, fiandeira f
• Hungarian: kézifonónő
• Manx: ben sneeuee f
• Middle English: spynnestere, spynnere
• Portuguese: fiadeiro m, fiadeira f
• Russian: сучильщица f (sučilʹščica), прядильщица (ru) f (prjadilʹščica)

See also

• bachelor
• bachelorette
• divorcee
• thornback
• widow

 

Further reading

• spinster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Prentiss, prestins

Dutch

Etymology

From spinnen (“to spin”) +‎ -ster.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

spinster f (plural spinsters, diminutive spinstertje n, masculine spinner)

1. spinner (female)