breadwinner
The primary income-earner in a household.
Noun
- The primary income-earner in a household.
- At one side lay the little town of Hollingford, into a street of which Mr. Gibson's front door opened; and delicate columns, and little puffs of smoke were already beginning to rise from many a cottage chimney where...
- The female breadwinners who are making more than their working husbands are in a whole different income bracket; their median household income is $80,000. The role of men is evolving even in the three-quarters of...
Synonyms: breadearner
Origin
From bread + winner, where to win = to earn. Compare West Frisian breawinning (“livelihood”, literally “bread-winning”), Dutch broodwinning (“livelihood”).