# Spinster



## Moon77

_Italian:_ 

zitella 
zitellona 
zitella inacidita (old spinster)

from the germanic word "zitze"


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## Cleotis

In Spanish:

Soltera (not married)
Solterona (pejorative: very ugly, rare or old spinster)

Regards.


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## Joannes

In Dutch: *oude vrijster*. It's pejorative.


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## jazyk

I'll use the Spanish example:

Solteira (not married)
Solteirona (pejorative: very ugly, strange or old spinster)

I think you meant strange, odd or weird here, didn't you?

Jazyk


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:* kız kurusu
It's offensive to call somebody _kız kurusu_, of course.


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## elroy

Arabic: عانس (_`aanis_)


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## Jana337

Czech: Stará panna - old virgin. Pejorative if you hadn't guessed.


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## Whodunit

In German (pejorative, too):

_alte Jungfer_ (old maid)


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## Outsider

jazyk said:


> Solteira (not married)
> Solteirona (pejorative: very ugly, strange or old spinster)


I would say that _solteirona_ doesn't necessarily have quite as negative a connotation as that in Portugal. I would never use it to call a woman ugly or strange, for instance...


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## Maja

In Serbian:

- usedelica
- also neudata žena (unmarried woman).


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## suslik

In Estonian: vanatüdruk


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## DrWatson

Finnish:

*ikäneito *(lit. age maiden) or
*vanhapiika *(lit. old maid)

A corresponding concept for males is* vanhapoika *(lit. old boy). For younger single men one can use the word *poikamies *(lit. boy man).


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## jonquiliser

Out of curiosity, is there any language at all with a corresponding concept for males?


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## Mac_Linguist

In Macedonian:

*Стара мома* ("_old girl_") or *немажена девојка* ("_unmarried girl_").


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## panjabigator

jonquiliser said:


> Out of curiosity, is there any language at all with a corresponding concept for males?




Not for us, to my knowledge, but it's considered a bad trait to be unmarried and old.  Especially worse for girls.


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## cyanista

jonquiliser said:


> Out of curiosity, is there any language at all with a corresponding concept for males?



Yep. Russian has both:
старая дева - unmarried woman (starting with her thirties, or even earlier)
старый холостяк - unmarried man (starting with midthirties-forties)

Predictably enough, the connotations are different and a man could proudly call himself a старый холостяк, whereas it's difficult to imagine a woman who'd find it flattering to be called старая дева.


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## dn88

Hello,

In Poland we say "stara panna" (old maid). It's rather a disapproving name as you can easily guess.


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## jonquiliser

panjabigator said:


> Not for us, to my knowledge, but it's considered a bad trait to be unmarried and old.  Especially worse for girls.





cyanista said:


> Yep. Russian has both:
> старая дева - unmarried woman (starting with her thirties, or even earlier)
> старый холостяк - unmarried man (starting with midthirties-forties)
> 
> Predictably enough, the connotations are different and a man could proudly call himself a старый холостяк, whereas it's difficult to imagine a woman who'd find it flattering to be called старая дева.



Interesting. Swedish does have a word for an unmarried man, although it's not necessarily a question of an old man: ungkarl. The corresponding word for a woman is ungmö, which also is used of both older and younger women. It's interesting to note, however, how the mere age of the woman in question will make people consider it as something negative.. For a more emphatically disparaging tone, there's _nucka_. I know of no such word regarding a man. (As with so many aspects of this world...). I'd take it though that the "condition" of not being married isn't the problem (quite to the contrary, hehe!) but rather how people view it.


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## Q-cumber

cyanista said:


> Yep. Russian has both:
> старая дева - unmarried woman (starting with her thirties, or even earlier)
> старый холостяк - unmarried man (starting with midthirties-forties)
> 
> Predictably enough, the connotations are different and a man could proudly call himself a старый холостяк, whereas it's difficult to imagine a woman who'd find it flattering to be called старая дева.



Correction: старая дева - old maid (virgin), not woman.  An unmarried woman, which had some sex before can't be called "старая дева".
"старый холостяк" - an old bachelor. He is more likely doing sex regularly, yet doesn't want to get married.


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## deine

Lithuanian: senmergė (old maid)


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, _maljuna fraŭlino_.  Any unmarried woman is a _fraŭlino_.  _Maljuna_ means old.


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## apmoy70

Greek:

*«Γεροντοκόρη»* [ʝeɾondoˈkoɾi] (fem.) which is pejorative. A compound: 
Combinatory *«γεροντο-»* [ʝeɾondo-] of MoGr adj. *«γέρος»* [ˈʝeɾos] (masc.) --> _old man_ < Classical masc. adj. *«γέρων» gérōn* --> _old man, elder_ (PIE *ǵerh₂- _to be(come) old_ cf Skt. जरन्त (járanta), _old man_) + MoGr fem. *«κόρη»* [ˈkoɾi] --> _daughter, young girl_ < Classical fem. noun *«κόρη» kórē* --> _young girl, daughter_ (PIE *ḱerh₃- _to grow_ cf Lith. šerti, _feeding_, Arm. սեռգ (seṙg), _gender_).

The corresponding male term is *«γεροντοπαλλήκαρο»* [ʝeɾondopaˈlikaɾo] (neut.) which is a compound: Combinatory *«γεροντο-»* [ʝeɾondo-] (see above) + MoGr masc. *«παλληκάρι»* [paliˈkaɾi] (neut.) --> _adolescent male_ < Byz.Gr neut. diminutive *«παλληκάριον» pallēkárion* & *«παλληκάριν» pallēkárin* (idem), of Classical 3rd declension masc. noun *«πάλλαξ» pắllāk͡s* (nom. sing.), *«πάλλακος» pắllākŏs* (gen. sing.) --> _youth, adolescent male_ (of unknown etymology, possibly a mediterranean Wanderwort).


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## DearPrudence

In *French*:
"*une vieille fille*" (literally: _old girl/maid_)
It is pejorative.
We can use "*un vieux gars*" (literally: _old lad/bloke/guy/boy_) for a man, which is also pejorative.


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## aasheq

In English the word “spinster” means “unmarried woman”, regardless of her age. In Britain at least it is used in official documents (especially marriage certificates) as the female counterpart of “bachelor”. It is not in principle derogatory.


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian :

_Bajanu (masculine) Bajana (feminine) = unmarried, single
_
The origin of this epithet dates back to the Roman age, where Latins like actual Italians had the habit to use vegetable names as insults, like the Italian  : testa di rapa, testa di cavolo, testa di cocomero etc.etc. (head of turnip, head of cauliflower, head of cucumber etc.etc.). There was the Latin term "faba Bajana" (fava bean from Baja), which was a kind of fava bean typical of Baja, a town near Naples. Abbreviated from "faba Bajana" to "Bajana" it was used as insult, meaning something like "faded away, simpleton, dumb, impulsive, unexperienced". Then during the Christian age the adjective was cleansed from the vulgar meanings and used as synonymous of "virgin, nubile, single, unmarried"

It's the same etymology of the Italian :

_baggianata = nonsense
baggiano (antiquated Italian) = simpleton, dumb_


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