Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

hausfrau

American  
[haus-frau] / ˈhaʊsˌfraʊ /

noun

  • hausfraus,
    plural
  • hausfrauen
    plural
  1. a housewife.


hausfrau British  
/ ˈhaʊsˌfraʊ /

noun

  1. a German housewife

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of hausfrau

1790–1800; < German, equivalent to Haus house + Frau wife, woman


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

As the lady of the house, Hüller cuts a loathsome, terrifying figure: She’s a hausfrau Lady Macbeth, all inelegant vanity and hectoring manipulation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2023

Humphries’ obituaries have demarcated the journey she took to get here, from frumpy 1950s Melbourne hausfrau to 1980s glamazon, yet once she arrived, she seemed to have been waiting for us all along.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 24, 2023

How Steve McQueen stole Ali MacGraw from the Paramount honcho Bob Evans, turning her into a high-class hausfrau and torpedoing her career.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2013

They look a bit incongruous with the gray hausfrau dress, genteel pearls and headscarf worn in the Seattle Repertory Theatre production by actor Nick Garrison.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2012

She hates the "stuffy" life of a hausfrau, but marriage makes no appeal, since the breaking of her engagement with Alfred—who is also a man with punctual business habits.

From Ivory Apes and Peacocks by James Huneker

The "I Love Lucy" of Shakespeare's canon, "Merry Wives" borrowed from French and Italian farce to depict two Windsor hausfraus handily outwitting male jealousy, greed and lust.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2011

What a time those hausfraus had polishing up their silver, pewter, brass, and copper treasures, in opening up best rooms, and newly sanding the floors in devious intricate designs!

From Yule-Tide in Many Lands by L. J. (Lewis Jesse) Bridgman

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Just like flashcards, but way more fun

Don't take our word for it. Leave the boring studying behind and join VocabTrainer today. You'll learn even faster and never look back.

Take me to Vocabulary.com