au pair

Borrowed from French au pair.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əʊ ˈpɛə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /oʊ ˈpɛ(ə)ɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

au pair (not comparable)

1. On a working basis by which work done by one party is rewarded by benefits (especially board and lodging) rather than by monetary remuneration. [from 19th c.]
   • 1958 March 29, The Economist:

     Several thousand girls now come over from the continent to live for six months au pair with British families to learn English—and to perform ‘light domestic duties’.

   • 1973, Christina Stead, The Little Hotel, Text Classics, published 2016, page 84:

     ‘I shall try to get a position au pair to pay my expenses.’

au pair (plural au pairs)

1. (now rare) An au pair working arrangement (see Adverb). [from 19th c.]
2. A person (especially a young woman) working in such a way; now specifically, a foreign worker who helps a host family with childcare, housework, or both while staying as a guest with a host family, and generally receives a small allowance (or pocket money). [from 20th c.]
   • 2020 June 26, Susan Cohen and Jennifer Hunt, “By blocking visas for foreign workers, Trump is further hurting the US economy”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     H-2B visas are for unskilled seasonal workers, including landscapers, forestry workers and summer resort workers, while J-1s are for exchange visitors who come for short stays, typically for summer work, brief internships or to be au pairs.

• nursemaid

Borrowed from French au pair.

au pair c (singular definite au pairen, plural indefinite au pairer)

1. an au pair

• “au pair” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from French au pair.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑu̯pɑi̯r/, [ˈɑ̝u̯pɑ̝i̯r]
• Alternatively pronounced as in English.

au pair

1. au pair

• “au pair”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• IPA^(key): /o pɛʁ/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

au pair (invariable)

1. working for food and housing
   • 1840, Honoré de Balzac, Pierrette:

     Sylvie Rogron fut envoyée à cent écus de pension en apprentissage rue Saint-Denis, chez des négociants nés à Provins. Deux ans après, elle était au pair : si elle ne gagnait rien, ses parents ne payaient plus rien pour son logis et sa nourriture. Voilà ce qu’on appelle être au pair, rue Saint-Denis.

     Sylvie Rogron was sent (with six hundred francs for her board) as apprentice to certain shopkeepers originally from Provins and now settled in Paris in the rue Saint-Denis. Two years later she was "at par" as they say; she earned her own living; at any rate her parents paid nothing for her. That is what is called being "at par" in the rue Saint-Denis.

• fille au pair

• → German: Au-pair

Borrowed from French au pair.

au pair f (plural au pairs)

1. au pair (person helping a host family with childcare or housework)

Unadapted borrowing from French au pair.

• IPA^(key): /o ˈpeɾ/ [o ˈpeɾ]
• Syllabification: au pair

au pair f (plural au pairs)

1. au pair (person helping a host family with childcare or housework)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “au pair”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Borrowed from French au pair.

au pair c

1. an au pair

• “au pair”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “au pair”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)