Materfamilias

Origin

From Latin māter familiās, mother of the household

Full definition of materfamilias

Noun

1. The female head of a household
• 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, That my old-country materfamilias is actually Chinese--Mandarin Chinese, yet--is a negligible discrepancy.

Synonyms

• matriarch

Related terms

• paterfamilias