Skip to main content
PlainSpell

housekeeper

house·keep·er/ˈhaʊskipɚ/noun

housekeeper is spelled H-O-U-S-E-K-E-E-P-E-R: 11 letters and 3 syllables (house·keep·er). It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 19,825th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, housekeeper means “Someone (traditionally a woman) employed to look after the home, typically by managing domestic servants or superintending household management; also…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of housekeeper is housekeepers.

How many letters and syllables are in housekeeper?

Letters11: H-O-U-S-E-K-E-E-P-E-R
Syllables3: house·keep·er
In writing1.9 times per million words; the 19,825th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is housekeeper?

Housekeeper appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 19,825th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce housekeeper?

  • US /ˈhaʊskipɚ/
  • UK /ˈhaʊskiːpə/

Housekeeper has 3 syllables, split house·keep·er in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-housekeeper.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with housekeeper

Also written: house-keeper (one word or two).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of housekeeper

  • housekeepers plural
  • house keeper
  • house-keeper

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does housekeeper mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Someone (traditionally a woman) employed to look after the home, typically by managing domestic servants or superintending household management; also someone with equivalent duties in a hotel, institution etc.

    She was their third housekeeper, but after a month or so she also gave up.

  2. 2

    Someone who manages the running of a home, traditionally the female head of the household.

  3. 3

    archaiccolloquialSomeone who keeps to their house; someone who rarely ventures away from home; an unadventurous person, a homebody.

  4. 4

    archaicSomeone who owns a house as a place of residence; a householder.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Housekeeper in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgouvernante (someone employed to manage or look after a home), ménagère (someone who manages the home, traditionally…)
GermanHaushälterin (someone employed to manage or look after a home), Hausfrau, Haushälter (someone who manages the home, traditionally…)
Portuguesegovernanta (someone employed to manage or look after a home), dona de casa (someone who manages the home, traditionally…)
Spanishama de llaves, gobernanta, ama de gobierno (someone employed to manage or look after a home)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does housekeeper come from?

From house + keeper.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after housekeeper