Lost in two dictionaries! Criada - maid or also spinster?

Question

When reading in Spanish I usually translate into English and then English to my native language if I want more exact meaning. Now I came up with this: in the beginning of Lorca's drama there is a personage called criada. It is ok to me translation here -

Criada [cre-ah'-dah] noun 1. Female servant, maid or maidservant, hand-maid. (f) Criada de menaje -> housemaid Criada por horas -> hourly-paid woman Criada para todo -> maid of all work,

but in my own language I also found a meaning "spinster". So I wanted to check meaning possibilities. Can criada be used for spinster or only for maid?

Answer 1

You may need to look at the meaning of the word spinster. In English a maid (in the context of spinster) can refer to either a virgin or unmarried woman. An old maid or spinster is just a mature woman that has never married. I would think in Spanish soltera might be the proper meaning; not criada.

Answer 2

Al old maid or spinster in Spanish is a

solterona

Very unfair and sexist. Just like spinster, this has a negative flair to it, while bacherlor does not.

soltero

Answer 3

The Spanish word criada means maid in English. But the English word maid can mean either servant or spinster in English, usually in the phrase old maid.

So in Spanish context only as a maidservant? - swing, JUN 20, 2010

Yes. - KevinB, JUN 20, 2010