different between housewife vs huswife

English

Etymology

From Middle English housewif, houswyf, huswijf, equivalent to house +? wife. Replaced earlier Middle English hussif (Modern English hussy), which is a doublet. Cognate literally with rare German Hausweib.

Pronunciation

Person

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?ha?s.wa?f/

Bag

• IPA^(key): /?h?z?f/

Noun

housewife (plural housewives or housewifes) (see notes below about plurals)

1. (plural "housewives") A woman whose main employment is homemaking, maintaining the upkeep of her home and tending to household affairs; often, such a woman whose sole [unpaid] employment is homemaking.

   Synonym: (archaic) henhussy

   Hypernym: homemaker

   Coordinate term: househusband

   • 2000, Uli Kusch, "Mr. Torture", Helloween, The Dark Ride

2. (plural "housewives") The wife of a householder; the mistress of a family; the female head of a household.
3. (plural "housewifes") A little case or bag for materials used in sewing, and for other articles of female work.

   Synonym: hussy

   • 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson 1986, p. 246:

     It was a housewife, containing needles, a bodkin, and thread; ‘and, do you know,’ added he, ‘it was the most useful thing she could have given me, for it lasted all the time I was at Rome to mend my clothes with […] .’

   • 1852, Tom Taylor and Charles Reade, Masks and Faces Act II:

     Woffington's housewife, made by herself, homely to the eye, but holds everything in the world

   • 1997, David L. Phillips, A Soldier's Story, MetroBooks, ?ISBN, page 61.

Derived terms

• housewifedom
• housewifeish
• housewifelike
• housewifely
• housewifery
• housewifeship
• housewifization

Translations

Verb

housewife (third-person singular simple present housewifes, present participle housewifing, simple past and past participle housewifed)

1. Alternative form of housewive

English

Etymology

From Middle English hus-wif, hous-wif, equivalent to house +? wife. Doublet of hussy.

Noun

huswife (plural huswifes or huswives)

1. (obsolete) A housewife.
2. (obsolete) A worthless woman; a hussy.
3. A small case containing needles, scissors, thread, and other sewing things.

Verb

huswife (third-person singular simple present huswifes, present participle huswifing, simple past and past participle huswifed)

1. (said of a woman) To manage with frugality.