maiden
/ˈmeɪdən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.82 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A maidservant.
noun
noun
A horse race in which all starters are maidens.
Example Sentences
- "She's unmarried and still a maiden."
- "As for that ſaid ſire Bors I wille be ſhryuen with a good wylle / Soo ſyr Bors was confeſſyd / and for al wymmen ſir Bors was a vyrgyne / ſauf for one / that was the doughter of kynge Brangorys / and on her he gat a child that hyghte Elayne / and ſauf for her ſyre Bors was a clene mayden[…]"
- "It had been customary during the whole civil war, to decapitate state criminals by the instrument called the maiden; but Montrose was condemned to a more ignominious death , by a gibbet thirty feet high"
- "a surprising old maiden lady"
- "It was just the middle of October when I moved in with my maiden sister […]"
- "Haue you no modeſty, no maiden ſhame, / No touch of baſhfulneſſe?"
Etymology
From Middle English mayden, meiden, from Old English mæġden (“girl”), originally a diminutive of mæġeþ (“girl”) via diminutive suffix -en, from Proto-West Germanic *magaþ, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs. Equivalent to maid + -en.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmeɪdən/
- British English: /ˈmeɪdən/