maid

The word “maid” means a woman employed to clean a house or do domestic work. In plain terms, most commonly today, a household or hotel cleaner; the "young woman" meaning is now mainly literary.

“Maid” is pronounced mayd (/meɪd/ in IPA).

Here is “maid” used in a sentence: “The hotel maid knocked to ask if the room needed cleaning.”

“Maid” is a noun.

The word “maid” comes from Old English. A shortened form of Middle English "maiden", ultimately from Old English maegden, "girl".

“Maid” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Maid” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a woman employed to clean a house or do domestic work.

A maid is a woman employed to clean a house or perform domestic work, often with tasks focused on cleaning and tidying. A housekeeper's role can be broader, sometimes including managing household staff, budgets, or other domestic operations in addition to cleaning.

Yes, in literary or old-fashioned usage, maid can describe a young unmarried woman or girl, separate from its more common modern meaning of a domestic worker. This sense is now largely confined to older texts, poetry, or archaic-sounding speech.

Maid is a commonly used, fairly informal title for domestic cleaning staff, though it appears in job listings and household contexts as a standard term. More formal alternatives like housekeeper are sometimes preferred in professional settings.