A woman who has never been married, or historically, a woman whose job was spinning thread into yarn.
From Middle English 'spinnen' (to spin) plus the agent suffix '-ster'. Originally meant any woman who spun thread professionally. By the 1600s, it became a term for unmarried women, reflecting how spinning was common work for single women in that era.
The word perfectly captures how job descriptions became social labels! A 'spinster' was literally someone whose job was spinning—but as marriage became more central to women's identities, the word transformed to mean 'unmarried woman' instead, even though most women had stopped spinning thread by then.
Originally neutral (spinner of thread), 'spinster' became a pejorative for unmarried women by the 17th century, encoding the assumption that a woman's value derives from marital status. The term carries shame that has no male equivalent.
Use 'unmarried woman' or simply the person's name/role. If historical context is relevant, acknowledge the bias: 'historically called a spinster, a term used to shame unmarried women.'
["unmarried woman","single woman","woman (name/role)"]
Unmarried women contributed to economies and communities as artisans, merchants, and heads of households—a history obscured by dismissive language.
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