how to pronounce distaff

/ˈdɪs.tɑːf/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of distaff is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

distaff is pronounced in two syllables

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1.

2.

ɑː

example pitch curve for pronunciation of distaff

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meanings of distaff

noun:

Anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only.
A woman, or women considered as a group.
A race for female horses only.
The part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun.
A device to which a bundle of natural fibres (often wool, flax, or cotton) are attached for temporary storage, before being drawn off gradually to spin thread. A traditional distaff is a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it (as indicated by the etymology of the word), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist.

adjective:

Of the maternal side of a family.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of women.

distaff frequency in english - C2+ level of CEFR

the word distaff occurs in english on average 0.3 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for C2+ level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.

topics distaff can be related to

it is hard to perfectly classify words into specific topics since each word can have many context of its use, but our machine-learning models believe that distaff can be often used in the following areas:

1) life, nature, and living environment;

2) people, society, and culture;