Cleaner

A person whose job is to clean buildings, rooms, or other spaces.

Cleaner comes from 'clean,' which derives from Old English 'claene' meaning 'pure' or 'innocent,' not just physically spotless. The original concept was moral and spiritual purity rather than hygiene. Medieval 'cleaning' often involved religious purification rituals, not just removing dirt. The shift to purely physical cleanliness happened gradually as germ theory developed in the 1800s, when 'cleaner' as a job title became common alongside new understanding of disease prevention.