distaff

Meaning

Noun

1. A device to which a bundle of natural fibres (often wool, flax, or cotton) are attached for temporary storage, before being drawn off gradually to spin thread. A traditional distaff is a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it (as indicated by the etymology of the word), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist.
2. The part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun.
3. Anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only.
4. A race for female horses only.
5. (also, collective) A woman, or women considered as a group.

Adj

1. (not-comparable) Of, relating to, or characteristic of women.
2. (not-comparable) Of the maternal side of a family.

Opposite of

male, paternal, spear

Synonyms

spindle

spinning-wheel

female

♀️

spinning wheel

stick

cotton

powder-puff

rock

🪨

rocket

🚀

spinning

Translations

quenouille

Spinnrocken

rueca

rocca

spinstok

spinrokken

ρόκα

rokken

Rocken

fuso

fuso

roca

ηλακάτη

filosa

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdɪstɑːf/

Etymology

Cognate with Middle Low German: dise

In summary

From Middle English distaf (“distaff”), from Old English distæf (“distaff”), from *dis- (“bunch of flax”) (cognate with Middle Low German dise (“bunch of flax on a distaff”)) + stæf (“staff”) (from Proto-Germanic *stabaz (“staff, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ-). Senses 3 and 5 (“anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only”; “a woman, or women considered as a group”) refer to the fact that spinning was traditionally done by women.