frau

See also: Frau and frâu

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Frau. Doublet of vrouw.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fɹaʊ/

Noun

frau (plural fraus)

  1. A woman, especially a German woman.
    • 2007 January 12, Grace Glueck, “Fun With Studio Crafts: When the Traditional Gets Quirky”, in New York Times‎:
      It presents Dürer’s mother as a sharp-nosed, world-weary German frau looking wryly out at life from under a decorous wimple.

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin fraus.

Pronunciation

Noun

frau m (plural fraus)

  1. fraud

German

Etymology

From Frau by making the first letter lower-case. Coined as an alternative to the male-sounding word man (“one”), which is cognate and homophonous with Mann (“adult male”). First used by feminists when writing about women, then occasionally used in general contexts.[1][2] Compare the pronoun mensch. Compare also the use of she vs he in English to refer to someone whose gender is unknown.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fraʊ̯/
  • Homophone: Frau
  • audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊ̯

Pronoun

frau

  1. (indefinite, informal, rare) one, they (indefinite third-person singular pronoun)
    • 1998, Matthias Matussek, Die vaterlose Gesellschaft: überfällige Anmerkungen zum Geschlechterkampf, page 47:
      Sie ist selbst dann noch beschissen, wenn frau sie beendet hat.
    • 2003, Ulrike Schlicht, Selbsterweiterungsprozesse alleinlebender Frauen, →ISBN, page 218:
      Wenn frau sich kennt, braucht sie nicht vor sich wegzulaufen.
    • 2008, Gaye Suse Kromer, Obszöne Lust oder etablierte Unterhaltung?, page 163:
      Erst mal sechs Jahre alleine und frau muss auch zusehen, dass sie sich gerne hat. Das liebe ich, mit mir selbst zu sein und mich zu mögen und mich zu streicheln.
    • 2008, L. Schäfer, Gemeindepädagogisches Forum 2008; Abschlussimpuls:
      ...und wenn man / frau älter wird? (English translation: "...and when one gets older?")

Usage notes

  • The word is more frequently used by left-wing and/or feminist writers and speakers, which may use this word in a serious formal context, where this word is not usually acceptable, in order to express their political views. In informal context, such as magazine articles, frau is usually used just once in a text as a stylistic flourish to underline that a women-specific topic is discussed.

References

  1. ↑ Petra Storjohann, Diachrone Angaben im Wortartikel frau, page 320, in Grundfragen der elektronischen Lexikographie, edited by Ulrike Haß, →ISBN.
  2. ↑ Theo Stemmler: Wie das Eisbein ins Lexikon kam, page 15, →ISBN.

Further reading

  • frau in Duden online
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