matranee
An Anglo-Indian term from the colonial period for a female domestic servant, particularly a cleaning woman or sweeper employed in a household.
Definitions
An Anglo-Indian term from the colonial period for a female domestic servant, particularly a cleaning woman or sweeper employed in a household. The term reflects the caste hierarchies and gendered labour divisions of the colonial Indian household. Now archaic and replaced by more contemporary terms.
The matranee came each morning before sunrise to clean the floors and collect the ashes.
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(obsolete, India) A female house-servant.
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Semantically related
- matron65%
A housekeeper, especially, a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public institution.
- mainato65%
An Anglo-Indian term for a washerman (dhobi) in colonial India, particularly associated with the Deccan and South India. The word may derive from a regional caste or occupational name. Dhobis occupied a specific niche in the colonial household economy, collecting, washing, and returning laundered clothes on a regular schedule.
- matron59%
A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children.
- mehtar59%
(India, historical) A sweeper or scavenger of low caste.