lady [noun] [de dame, de dames] [‘daa-mu’]

To make up for DWOTD 264. Wijf, we close the week with "dame".
"Dame" has a very positive connotation in Dutch and evokes the association of decency and elegance.

The plural "dames" is very common as a form of address, contrary to the singular "dame". Its usage is quite similar to the English lady.

"Dame" can also be used for the "queen" in the game of chess.

Examples:
– "Dames en heren, mag ik even uw aandacht?"
("Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention?")

– "<tegen je vriendin:> Hé mooi dame!"
("<to your girlfriend:> Hey beautiful lady!")

– "Pardon, kunt u mij zeggen waar ik het damestoilet kan vinden?"
("Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find the Ladies’ toilet/room?")

– "Het buurmeisje wordt al een echte dame, vind je niet?"
("The girl next door is becoming a real lady, don’t you think so?")

– "In het damestennis wordt sinds het debuut van Monica Seles flink gekreund."
("Since the debut of Monica Seles, there is considerable grunting in ladies tennis."
)

Related words:
– "Damesblad": women’s magazine. Common ones are "Margriet", "Libelle", "Viva" and "Linda" (by the
Dutch actress and tv hostess "Linda de Mol" who is apparantly also very successful in Germany).
– "Dame van lichte zeden": prostitute. Literally "Lady of easy virtue".

1. young woman, girl, doll, gal [noun] [de meid, de meiden] [‘meid‘]

Today we cover "meid", a word that is often used for young(er) females but can also be used by older women amongst eachother. Contrary to "wijf", "meid" has a positive connotation. The plural "meiden" is quite commonly used to describe a group of young women. The use of "meid" or "meiden" is informal and translations also depend on the context and how the word is used, see Examples.

Related to "meid" is the word "meisje": "young girl/woman".

Examples:
– "Nicole is een toffe meid, vind je niet?"
("Nicole is a great girl, don’t you think")

– "<tegen een klein nichtje:> Zooooo, jij bent al een grote meid geworden!"
("<to a little niece:> Well, well…what a big girl you have become!" Lit.: "you’ve become a big girl already!")

– "Ik durf die knappe meid aan de bar echt niet aan te spreken…"
("I really don’t have the guts to go talk to that pretty girl at the bar…" The verb "durven" translates to "to dare", and "aanspreken" to "to approach and talk to".)

– "<hockeycoach:> Kom op meiden!! Nog 2 minuten, we hebben bijna gewonnen!!")
("<hockey coach:> Come on girls!! Two more minutes, we have almost won!!")

– "Hé lieve meid, ben je al thuis? En, ben je geslaagd?"
("Hey sweetie, are you already home? And, did you find what you were looking for?")

– "Ja meid, het valt niet mee hè, die ouderdom!"
("<one elderly woman to the other while taking a break on a park bench:> Yes my dear, it’s not that easy is it now, old age!")

– "Hé meid, wat zie je er leuk uit vandaag!"
("Hey doll, you’re looking great today!" You might also hear the more explicit  gays say this to each other.)

Expression:
– "Een slimme meid is op haar toekomst voorbereid": literally "A smart girl is prepared for her future" this was a slogan used by the Dutch government in the early nineties in order to stimulate grammar/high school girls to prepare for and later choose a scientific university study. The slogan was a lot more successful than the actual intent 🙂

Related words:
– "Meisje": girl (from very young to early twenties).
– "Griet": like "meid" but less common and a bit old-fashioned.
– "Vrouw": woman, female.
– "Meidengroep": girl band. Two famous Dutch examples from the eighties are "Dolly Dots" and "Frizzle Sizzle".

2. maid, servant [noun] [de meid, de meiden] [‘meid‘]

In the meaning of maid or servant, usually an adjective is used, see the Related words. The word "meisje" can be used similarly.

This usage of the word "meid" is a bit outdated though.

Leading up and during new year’s evening you might here talk of a so-called "gillende keukenmeid": screaming/yelling kitchen maid. This is a fire cracker making a high pitched noise.

Related words:
– "Dienstmeid": maid, servant.
– "Keukenmeid": kitchen maid.

woman, broad [noun, derogatory] [het wijf, de wijven] [‘wijf‘]

Obviously, the Dutch "wijf" has the same origin as the English
"wife". It is however not used in that translation anymore, other than in biology where its diminutive translates to "female". In old Dutch, "wijf" did not have the derogatory meaning as it has now.

"Wijf" is also very suitable as a term of abuse, usually with an adjective of choice, translating to bitch/cow etc., see the Related words. The official Dutch word for "bitch" is "teef", which is also sometimes used as a term of abuse.

In recent years, and maybe influenced by shows like the "Jerry Springer show" that aired in the nineties, the English "bitch" has become common use in Dutch as a term of abuse for women. Of course it is pronounced the Dutch way: "bitsj" 🙂

Examples:

– "Kijk Johnnie: lekkere wijven!!"
("Johnnie look: hot babes!!" This is a classical line from the Dutch eighties movie "Flodder", used
when two of the main characters, Johnnie and Kees, pass a tennis court. The film is about an antisocial family "promoted away" to a villa neighbourhood, who then of course heavily disrupt the quiet life. There is also a tv-series still running. In Dutch "Johnny" is usually spelled "Johnnie" and pronounced "Sjonny".)

– "Hee wijffie, ga je met me mee vanavond?"
("<slang:> Hey baby, will you come with me tonight?" Note: here "wijffie" is synonymous to "moppie".)

– "Mijn buurvrouw is echt een kutwijf! Ze heeft de muziek vaak nog tot laat heel hard staan…"
("My neighbour is really a bitch! She often plays loud music until late in the evening…" Lit.: "She often has the music on loudly till very late"… Mind the word "kut"; this is foul but common language and a synonym for vagina.)

– "Met betrekking tot de biologie kan "female" in het Nederlands ook met het verkleinwoord van wijf worden vertaald: wijfje."
("With respect to biology, in Dutch "female" can also be translated with the diminutive of "wijf": wijfje.")

Related words:
– "Kutwijf": as per the example above.
– "Rotwijf": bitch, an equivalent of the male "bastard". Less strong than "kutwijf". "Rot" in generally can be used as an adjective to say that something was lousy or unpleasant like "rotavond" (a bad/unpleasant evening).
– "Pokkenwijf": bitch, derived from the disease smallpox.
– "Takkenwijf": like "pokkenwijf" but origin unknown ("takken" are the branches of a tree).
– "[fill in your favourite disease in Dutch]wijf": we don’t want to make this DWOTD too brutal, so have a look in the dictionary.
– "Viswijf": literally fishwife, usually used for rude (scolding) common women.
– "Manwijf": mannish woman.

1. woman, female, lady [noun] [de vrouw, de vrouwen] [‘vrouw‘]

This week we’ll make an effort to provide you with common words to describe or address females. We start with the basic "vrouw".

Examples:
– "Wie is die vrouw in de rode jurk?"
("Who is that woman in the red dress?")

– "Val jij op mannen of op vrouwen?"
("Do you fancy / are you into men or women?")

– "Er zijn gescheiden douches voor mannen en vrouwen."
("There are separate showers for men and women.")

– "Sommige clubs hebben gratis entree voor vrouwen."
("Some clubs offer free entrance to women.")

– "Mijn moeder is jarenlang een alleenstaande vrouw geweest."
("My mother has been an unattached woman / woman on her own for years." Literally "alleenstaand" means "standing alone".)

– "Met betrekking tot de biologie wordt "female" in het Nederlands met het verkleinwoord vertaald: vrouwtje."
("With respect to biology, in Dutch "female" is translated with the diminutive: vrouwtje.")

Expression:
You will sometimes hear the following anti-female expression uttered by the more marginal men:
"Vrouwen? Dan kun je beter kippen hou-en!"
(Lit.: "Women? You had better keep hens!" The verb at the end should be "houden", but is pronounced "hou-wun" in slang.)

Related words:
– "Dame": lady.
– "Mevrouw": Mrs., Ms., Madam.
– "Juffrouw": primary or elementary school teacher, Miss. In the first translation, often abbreviated to "Juf".
– "Vrouwonvriendelijk": anti-woman/female, disadvantageous to women.
– "Buurvrouw": female neighbour.

2. wife, spouse [noun] [de vrouw, de vrouwen] [‘vrouw‘]

Examples:
– "Ik ben Frank Bilbo, en dit is mijn vrouw Lea. Hoe maakt u het?"
("I am Frank Bilbo, and this is my wife Lea. How do you do?")

– "Mijn vrouw kan heel goed kaartlezen! We zijn niet verdwaald in Parijs en de TomTom hebben we niet nodig gehad!"
("My wife is very good at reading maps! We did not get lost in Paris and we had no need for the TomTom!" We only promote the TomTom here because it’s Dutch :-))

Related words:
– "Huisvrouw": housewife.

3. queen [noun] [de vrouw, de vrouwen] [‘vrouw‘]

This translation is only common in the world of card games.

Examples:
– "En hartenvrouw maakt een straat, ik win!"
("And the queen of hearts makes a street, I win!")

fellow, guy, man [noun] [de vent, de venten] [‘vent‘]

More or less synonymous to "kerel" is the informal "vent". Its plural is never used (but does exist according to the dictionary 😉 ). The biggest difference is that "vent" can be used in both a positive and negative context, the latter mainly when you to point to or describe a man you don’t know (see the Examples).

Examples:
– "Heb je Daniela’s nieuwe vriend al ontmoet? Een leuke vent!"
("Have you met Daniela’s new boyfriend? A nice fellow/guy!")

– "Ik vind die tennisster niet aantrekkelijk, ze lijkt wel een vent…"
("I don’t think that tennis player is attractive, she looks like a guy…" Pay attention to the spelling of "tennisster". The verb is "tennissen". A male tennis player is a "tennisser" with the male ending -er, whereas the female ending is -ster.)

– "<tegen een klein neefje:> Zo ventje! Wil jij een snoepje?"
("<to a little nephew:> Well little man! Do you want a sweet/piece of candy?")

– "Hee moppie, heb jij al een vent?"
("Hey doll, got a man already?")

– "<vrouwen onder elkaar:> Kijk daar! Wat een lekkere vent!"
("<women among each other:> Look (over there)! That guy is hot!" Lit.: "…What a tasty guy!")

– "Wie is die enge vent aan de overkant van de straat?"
("Who is that scary man on the other side of the street?")

– "Wie was dat?" – "O, een of andere vent die wat van me wilde."
("Who was that?" – "Oh, some guy who wanted something of me.")

Related words:
– "Venten": to sell on the street, to hawk.
– "Venter": street seller.
– "Potloodventer": flasher (that is: a man showing his genital organ to innocent passers-by). Literally "potloodventer" translates to pencil street seller.
– "Gozer": guy, bloke, dude.
– "Gast": guest, or: guy, bloke, dude.
– "Kerel": guy, bloke, dude, fellow.