Romantic Stories of Words About Women Over the years many terms for the word woman have become degraded. A number of these words will be discussed at more length in the body of the chapter, but it may be helpful to touch upon a few now. A housewife, for instance, is the mistress of a household, but the Old English word huswif gradually changed to hussy which is now a term of contemptuous reproach. Even the once respectable terms madam and dame have lost caste. In all but a very few instances the