different between lady vs frau

English

Etymology

From Middle English lady, laddy, lafdi, lavedi, from Old English hl?fd??e (“mistress of a household, wife of a lord, lady”, literally “bread-kneader”), from hl?f (“bread, loaf”) + d??e (“kneader”), related to Old English d??e (“maker of dough”). Compare also lord. More at loaf, dairy, dough. Unrelated to lad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?le?di/
• Rhymes: -e?di
• Hyphenation: la?dy

Noun

lady (plural ladies)

1. (historical) The mistress of a household.
2. A woman of breeding or higher class, a woman of authority.
3. The feminine of lord.
4. A title for someone married to a lord or gentleman.
5. A title that can be used instead of the formal terms of marchioness, countess, viscountess, or baroness.
6. (polite or used by children) A woman: an adult female human.

7. (in the plural) A polite reference or form of address to women.
8. (slang) Used to address a female.

9. (ladies' or ladies) Toilets intended for use by women.
10. (familiar) A wife or girlfriend; a sweetheart.
11. A woman to whom the particular homage of a knight was paid; a woman to whom one is devoted or bound.
12. (slang) A queen (the playing card).
13. (attributive, with a professional title) Who is a woman.

14. (Wicca) Alternative form of Lady.
15. The triturating apparatus in the stomach of a lobster, consisting of calcareous plates; so called from a fancied resemblance to a seated female figure.
16. (Britain, slang) A five-pound note. (Rhyming slang, Lady Godiva for fiver.)
17. (slang) A woman’s breast.

Derived terms

• Pages starting with “lady”.

Related terms

• fakaleit?
• Lady

Descendants

Translations

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ?ISBN

See also

• lord
• gentleman
• ladies' room
• broad

Anagrams

• DALY, Daly, Dyal, Lyda, layd, yald

French

Etymology

From English lady.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?.di/, /le.di/

Noun

lady f (plural ladys)

1. lady (wife of a lord; important woman)

Synonyms

• dame, madame

Further reading

• “lady” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English lady.

Noun

lady f (invariable)

1. lady (wife of a lord; important woman)

Synonyms

• dama, donna (archaic), signora

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ladi, laddy, lafdi, lavedi

Etymology

From Old English hl?fd??e, in turn from hl?f (“bread, loaf”) + d??e (“maid”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?la?di?(?)/
• (Early ME) IPA^(key): /?lavdi?(?)/

Noun

lady (plural ladys)

1. lady (important woman)

Descendants

• English: lady (see there for further descendants)
• Yola: laady

References

• “l?d?(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?la.d?/

Noun

lady f

1. inflection of lada:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English lady.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?leidi/, [?lei?.ð?i]

Noun

lady f (plural ladies)

1. lady (wife of a lord; important woman)

Further reading

• “lady” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Frau. Doublet of frow and vrouw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

frau (plural fraus)

1. A woman, especially a German woman.

Anagrams

• Rauf, Urfa, fuar

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin fraus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?f?aw/
• Rhymes: -aw

Noun

frau m (plural fraus)

1. fraud

Further reading

• “frau” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “frau” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “frau” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “frau” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

German

Etymology

From Frau by making the first letter lower-case. Coined as an alternative to the male-sounding word man (“one”), which is cognate and homophonous with Mann (“adult male”). First used by feminists when writing about women, then occasionally used in general contexts. Compare the pronoun mensch. Compare also the use of she vs he in English to refer to someone whose gender is unknown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fra??/
• Homophone: Frau
• Rhymes: -a??

Pronoun

frau

1. (indefinite, informal, slang, rare) one, they (indefinite third-person singular pronoun)
   • 1998, Matthias Matussek, Die vaterlose Gesellschaft: überfällige Anmerkungen zum Geschlechterkampf, page 47:

     Sie ist selbst dann noch beschissen, wenn frau sie beendet hat.

   • 2003, Ulrike Schlicht, Selbsterweiterungsprozesse alleinlebender Frauen, ?ISBN, page 218:

     Wenn frau sich kennt, braucht sie nicht vor sich wegzulaufen.

   • 2008, Gaye Suse Kromer, Obszöne Lust oder etablierte Unterhaltung?, page 163:

     Erst mal sechs Jahre alleine und frau muss auch zusehen, dass sie sich gerne hat. Das liebe ich, mit mir selbst zu sein und mich zu mögen und mich zu streicheln.

Usage notes

• The word is more frequently used by left-wing and/or feminist writers and speakers, which may use this word in a serious formal context, where this word is not usually acceptable, in order to express their political views. In informal context, such as magazine articles, frau is usually used just once in a text as a stylistic flourish to underline that a women-specific topic is discussed.

References

Further reading

• “frau” in Duden online

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• fraud

Etymology

From Old Norse frauð.

Noun

frau f or m (definite singular frauen or fraua, indefinite plural frauer or frauar, definite plural frauene or frauane)

1. (chiefly uncountable) This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Inflection

Related terms

• frode

References

• “frau” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• frua, fura