English

Noun

materfamilias ‎(plural materfamiliases or matresfamilias)

1. The female head of a household
   • 1903, Luigi Villari, Italian Life in Town and Country, page 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:

     That my old-country materfamilias is actually Chinese--Mandarin Chinese, yet--is a negligible discrepancy.

Synonyms

• matriarch

Related terms

• paterfamilias