au pair
7
5.8
- noun
- /oʊ pɛr/
:
au pair
- Um, I was an au pair for a family in the UK for two years.
- nannies and au pairs
- au pair for a family
- au pair program
Margaret Quinn was a psychotherapist and young Lulu Lopez, who's an au pair.
- Margaret Quinn was a psychotherapist and young Lulu Lopez, who's an au pair.
Examples
-
I worked for them in Sydney as an au pair.
Fiction book (1996) -
I'd been working as an au pair for them since I was fifteen.
Fiction book (1996) -
And then she said, "I had an au pair girl "who got lots of letters from him too."
-
I spent some time as an au pair to learn the language.
Fiction book (1990) -
There was a noise in the hall, and they looked up to see the au pair.
Fiction book (1995) -
"Just yesterday," she said, "at tea at Lady Bishop's, I told everyone I was getting an au pair from America."
Fiction book (2000) -
I went to Connecticut as an au pair with an American family who had been living in Sydney.
Fiction book (1996) -
The au pair hesitated and then followed the little boys.
Fiction book (1995) -
I am currently living in Spain as an au pair (teaching English to three kids) and learning Spanish.
Blog text (13) -
After finishing university, I decided to work as an au pair in France to gain international experience.
Synonyms
1
6.3
A young woman who lives with a family and cares for children while getting room, food and a small payment
How Professional
Surface Forms
Morphology
au + pair
This is a lexicalized loan from French: the parts ('au' and 'pair') are not productive English constituents here, and their literal senses (e.g., 'pair' = two) do not yield the meaning 'young person living with a host family to provide childcare'. The denotation is a culture-specific occupational term that cannot be derived from the surface words, so learners who know the constituent spellings or meanings would still not predict the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Au pair comes from French and originally meant 'on equal terms'. The idea was that the young helper lived with a family and exchanged work for room and board, so today an au pair is a young person who lives with a family to help with childcare in return for food and a small allowance.