Old Maid

See also: old maid

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əʊld meɪd/

Noun

Old Maid (countable and uncountable, plural Old Maids)

1. (uncountable) A children's card game, sometimes played with a special deck, where the object of the game is for each player to find matches for all the cards in his hand, without being stuck with the single unmatchable card.

   The only card games I know are Go Fish and Old Maid.

2. (countable) The unmatchable card itself.

   The Joker will serve as the Old Maid.

Translations

card game

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 潛烏龜／潜乌龟 (cim⁴ wu¹ gwai¹)

  Mandarin: 潛烏龜／潜乌龟 (qiánwūguī)

• Danish: Sorte Per
• Finnish: Pekka (fi), mustapekka (fi), Pekka-peli
• French: pouilleux (fr) m, vieux garçon (fr) m
• German: Schwarzer Peter m
• Italian: asino (it) m
• Japanese: ババ抜き (babanuki)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: svarteper (no) m

• Portuguese: fedor (pt) m, jogo do mico m
• Russian: ве́дьма (ru) f (védʹma) /lit: witch/
• Spanish: culo sucio (es) m, poto sucio m
• Swedish: Svarte Petter

card

• Finnish: Pekka (fi), Musta Pekka
• Japanese: ババ (baba)
• Portuguese: fede m, mico (pt) m
• Swedish: Svarte Petter

Further reading

• Old Maid in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• lamdoid, miladdo