meid

Borrowed from Afrikaans meid, from Dutch meid. Doublet of maid.

• (S Africa, UK) IPA^(key): /meɪt/

meid (plural meide)

1. (South Africa, offensive) A young black woman. [from 20th c.]
   • 1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage 1998, p. 113:

     The last time she heard Capt Stolz saying: ‘Come on, meid, speak up. Or do you want to die like Gordon Ngubene?’

• Demi, Diem, Dime, demi, demi-, dime, idem

From Middle Dutch meit, variant of meget, from Old Dutch *megith, *magath, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs. Compare also maagd.

• IPA^(key): /mɛi̯t/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: meid
• Rhymes: -ɛi̯t

meid f (plural meiden, diminutive meisje n or meidje n)

1. girl, lass

   De meiden hadden afgelopen zaterdag een zwemwedstrijd.

   The girls had a swimming match last Saturday.

   Goed gedaan, meid! ― Well done, girl!

2. maid

   Synonyms: bode, deerne, dienstbode, dienstmaagd

3. Commonly used as an address for female pets, especially female dogs.

   Brave meid! ― Good girl!

• Use in the singular may connote fortitude, bravery or acting like a grown-up, but it may also connote vulgarity or subservience due to the meaning “maid”. These connotations are much weaker in the plural, which can be used neutrally with little regard for context.
• Use for adult women (and to a lesser degree for older adolescent girls) is often considered patronising, which is especially true of the diminutives.
• The diminutive "meidje" is uncommon.

• meis

• idem

meid

1. partitive of mö