materfamilias

English

Etymology

From Latin māter familiās (“mother of the household”).

Noun

materfamilias (plural materfamiliases or matresfamilias)

  1. The female head of a household.
    • 1903, Luigi Villari, Italian Life in Town and Country‎[1], pages 110–111:
      The materfamilias and her daughters do a good deal of the housework, and even open the front door on occasion.
    • 1990 June 1, Mary Shen Barnidge, “Who Killed the Dragon Lady”, in Chicago Reader‎[2]:
      That my old-country materfamilias is actually Chinese--Mandarin Chinese, yet--is a negligible discrepancy.
    • 2025 May 20, Marina Hyde, “Was this a hen do or a humanitarian mission to liberate Paris? Either way, give Lauren Sánchez an award”, in The Guardian‎[3], →ISSN:
      Anyway, attendees for the hen weekend included fellow astronaut Katy Perry, the two most prestigious Kardashians – Kim and materfamilias Kris Jenner – as well as Eva Longoria, who travelled onward to Cannes to present Lauren with last night’s humanitarian award.

Synonyms

Coordinate terms

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