maid

maid — noun

1. a woman who is paid to clean rooms, make beds, and do other household work at ho

1.nounB1
Definition

a woman who is paid to clean rooms, make beds, and do other household work at hotels or inside people's homes

Example

The hotel maid had cleaned our room before we returned from breakfast.

common collocation: hotel maid

Mira works as a maid for an elderly couple and does their laundry every week.

collocation: works as a maid

Common collocations
  • hotel maid
  • housemaid
  • live-in maid
  • maid service
  • maid's room
Synonyms
  • housemaid

    specifically a maid employed in a private home rather than a hotel

  • chambermaid

    a maid who cleans bedrooms, typically used for hotel staff

  • domestic worker

    a broader, more formal term that can include maids, cleaners, and other household employees

  • cleaner

    focuses on cleaning tasks and does not usually imply live-in work or room service

Antonyms
  • employer

    the person who hires and pays the maid

Usage Note

This is the most common modern meaning of maid. In hotels, the term chambermaid is also used for a maid who cleans guest rooms. The broader term housekeeper often refers to someone who supervises other cleaning staff.

Common Mistakes

She works as a maid cleaner.
She works as a maid.
'maid' already includes the cleaning role; adding 'cleaner' is redundant.
The maid is the same as a butler.
A maid does cleaning work; a butler manages the household and serves meals.
these are different roles in a large household.

2. a dated or literary word for a girl or woman who has never been married; it can

2.nounC1
Definition

a dated or literary word for a girl or woman who has never been married; it can also refer to someone who has never had sex

Example

In Jane Austen's novels, a young maid of good family was expected to marry well.

archaic / literary register

The old photograph showed a shy maid of eighteen, wearing a simple white dress.

Common collocations
  • old maid
  • maid of honour
  • young maid
  • fair maid
Synonyms
  • maiden

    an even more archaic word with the same meaning; found in fairy tales and historical texts

  • unmarried woman

    the neutral modern phrase that has replaced this sense of maid

  • virgin

    emphasises the 'has not had sex' part of the meaning, but is more direct

Antonyms
  • married woman

    a woman who has married; the opposite in terms of marital status

  • bride

    a woman on or just after her wedding day

Usage Note

This sense is dated in modern English. Using maid to mean 'unmarried young woman' outside of historical, literary, or poetic contexts sounds very old-fashioned. The everyday term is young woman or unmarried woman. The related noun maiden shares this same old-fashioned flavour.

Common Mistakes

My sister is a maid of 25.
My sister is 25 and not married.
using 'maid' to describe a modern unmarried woman sounds strange and outdated.
Idioms

old maid

idiom

a slightly offensive, old-fashioned term for a woman who has never married and is no longer considered young; also the name of a card-matching game

The children spent the rainy afternoon playing Old Maid with a worn deck of cards.

The novel's main character is unfairly dismissed as an old maid by her neighbours.

maid of honour

idiom

a young unmarried woman who is the chief attendant of the bride at a wedding; in British tradition, also a historical title for an unmarried noblewoman attending a queen

Noor chose her younger sister to be the maid of honour at the wedding.

The queen appointed a new maid of honour to serve in the royal court.

Word family

  • maiden
    nounC1
  • maiden
    adjectiveC1
  • housemaid
    nounB2
  • chambermaid
    nounB2
  • maidservant
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Maid is the most general word for a woman employed to clean and maintain a home or hotel. Housemaid specifically refers to a maid who works in a private household rather than a hotel. Chambermaid is the hotel-specific term — she cleans guest bedrooms. Cleaner is broader: it can refer to anyone who cleans for pay, including offices and public spaces, and is not limited to women. Domestic worker is the most formal and inclusive term, covering maids, nannies, cooks, and gardeners; it is preferred in labour-rights and policy contexts. Example: 'The hotel hired extra chambermaids for the holiday season' sounds natural, while 'The hotel hired extra domestics for the holiday season' sounds oddly formal.

maid ↗housemaidchambermaidcleaner ↗domestic worker

Common collocations

Nouns

  • maid service
  • maid uniform
  • maid's room

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Maid comes from Middle English maide, a shortened form of maiden. In Old English, mægden meant 'young unmarried woman, virgin, girl'. The sense of a female domestic servant (sense 1) developed later, around the 14th–15th centuries, because many young unmarried women worked as servants in other people's homes. The original meaning of 'unmarried woman' (sense 2) is now mostly found in historical and literary texts.