kerling

From Old Norse kerling.

• IPA^(key): /ˈcʰɛrtliŋk/ (more formal, used especially in senses 1 and 2)
• IPA^(key): /ˈcʰɛtliŋk/

  Rhymes: -ɛtliŋk

kerling f (genitive singular kerlingar, nominative plural kerlingar)

1. (old) woman
2. (chiefly historical) a lower-class woman, as opposed to frú, dama, maddama
3. (derogatory) wuss, wimp (referring to a man or boy)
4. (informal, sometimes derogatory) wife
5. a general term of endearment for a female; girl, old girl

From karl +‎ -ing.

kerling f (genitive kerlingar, plural kerlingar)

1. woman, wife
2. old woman

• Icelandic: kerling
• Faroese: kelling
• Norwegian Nynorsk: kjerring
• Norwegian Bokmål: kjerring
• Old Swedish: kärling, kærling, kiærling
  • Swedish: kärring, käring, källing
• Old Danish: kærlingh, kerlingh
  • Danish: kælling
• Elfdalian: kelingg
• → Irish: cairling

• “kerling”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press