damsel

English

Alternative forms

• damoisel, damoiselle, damosel, damozel (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English dameisele, from Old French damoisele, from Vulgar Latin *domnicella, a diminutive from Classical Latin domina (“mistress, lady”), from dominus, from *demh₂-. Doublet of demoiselle, doncella, and donzella.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdæm.zəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdæm.zəl/, [ˈdɛəm.zɫ̩]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈdæm.zəl/, [ˈdɛːm.zɫ̩]

Noun

damsel (plural damsels)

1. A young woman (of noble birth).
2. A girl; a maiden (without sexual experience).
3. A young woman who is not married.
4. An unmarried lady-in-waiting.
5. A chattering damsel (component of a mill).
   • 1843, The Magazine of Science, and Schools of Art, volume 4, page 263:

     The spout that conveys the grain from the hopper to the eye or centre of the upper millstone rests against the spindle, just at the damsel, and thus receives an alternate back and forward motion, […]

Derived terms

• damsel bug
• damselfish
• damselfly
• damselhood
• damsel in distress
• riverdamsel

 

Translations

young woman of noble birth

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: (mladá (cs)) dáma (cs) f, milostslečna f
• Finnish: neito (fi)
• Galician: dama f
• Hungarian: hölgy (hu), úrhölgy (hu)
• Occitan: domaisèla (oc), donzèla f
• Polish: młoda dama f
• Portuguese: donzela (pt) f
• Russian: ба́рышня (ru) f (báryšnja), мадемуазе́ль (ru) f (madɛmuazɛ́lʹ), де́вушка (ru) f (dévuška), да́мочка (ru) f (dámočka) (jocular)

girl, maiden (without sexual experience)

• Breton: plac'h (br) f, merc'h (br) f
• Bulgarian: госпожица (bg) f (gospožica)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 閨女 / 闺女 (zh) (guīnü)

• Czech: panna (cs) f
• Danish: ungmo
• Finnish: neito (fi), impi (fi), immyt (fi), neitsyt (fi)
• French: demoiselle (fr) f, jeune femme (fr) f, jeune fille (fr) f
• Galician: doncela (gl) f
• German: Mädchen (de) f, Jungfrau (de) f
• Hebrew: עלמה (he) f (almah)
• Hungarian: lány (hu), leány (hu), leányka (hu), (jocular) leányzó (hu), kisasszony (hu), hajadon (hu), (dated) leányasszony (hu)
• Ido: damzelo (io)
• Irish: cailín (ga) m, ainnir f, maighdean f
• Plautdietsch: Mäakjen n
• Polish: dziewica (pl) f
• Portuguese: donzela (pt) f
• Romanian: fecioară (ro) f, fecior (ro) m
• Russian: деви́ца (ru) f (devíca), де́вочка (ru) f (dévočka), де́вушка (ru) f (dévuška), де́вственница (ru) f (dévstvennica) (virgin)
• Scottish Gaelic: ainnir f, rìbhinn (gd) f, maighdeann (gd) f, nighean (gd) f
• Spanish: doncella (es) f, muchacha (es) f
• Swedish: ungmö (sv) c, flicka (sv) c
• Welsh: geneth (cy) f, rhiain f, merch (cy) f

Anagrams

• Medals, Madles, damels, Delmas, delams, lameds, medals