Maid vs Wife - What's the difference?
maid | wife |
(dated, or, poetic) A girl or an unmarried young woman; maiden.
A female servant or cleaner (short for maidservant).
* , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
, chapter=2 (archaic) A virgin of either gender.
* 1380+ , (Geoffrey Chaucer), (The Canterbury Tales)
* 1601 , (William Shakespeare), (Twelfth Night)
A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.
* (The Fisherman and His Wife)
* , chapter=10
, title= The female of a pair of mated animals.
As nouns the difference between maid and wife
is that maid is a girl or an unmarried young woman; maiden while wife is a married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.maid
English
Noun
(en noun)- Note - maid is often used in the common or species names of flowering plants.
citation, passage=She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid , […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.}}
- Crist was a mayde and shapen as a man.
- You are betrothed both to a maid and man.
Synonyms
* (young female person) damsel, maiden * (female servant) handmaiden, lady-in-waiting, maidservant * (female cleaner) chambermaid (in a hotel), charlady (in a house), charwoman (in a house)See also
* bridesmaid * French maid * maid of honour * mermaid * old maidAnagrams
* ----wife
English
Noun
(wives)- My wife and I have decided to have a baby.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
