Word.ws English Dictionary

au pair

UK/əʊ ˈpɛə//oʊ ˈpɛ(ə)ɹ/

au pair adverb: on a working basis by which work done by one party is rewarded by benefits (especially board and lodging) rather than by monetary remuneration.

Adverb

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.
    • 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’.1958 March 29, The Economist
    • ‘I shall try to get a position au pair to pay my expenses.’1973, Christina Stead, The Little Hotel, Text Classics, published 2016, page 84

Noun

au pair (plural au pairs)

  1. (archaic) An au pair working arrangement (see Adverb).
  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).
    • 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.2020 June 26, Susan Cohen and Jennifer Hunt, “By blocking visas for foreign workers, Trump is further hurting the US economy”, in CNN

Forms of au pair

pluralau pairs

Origin of au pair

Borrowed from French au pair.

Questions about au pair

What does au pair mean?
Au pair means on a working basis by which work done by one party is rewarded by benefits (especially board and lodging) rather than by monetary remuneration.
What part of speech is au pair?
Au pair can be an adverb or a noun.
How do you pronounce au pair?
Au pair is pronounced /əʊ ˈpɛə/ (UK).

Words near au pair in the dictionary

  1. au go-go
  2. au gratin
  3. au jus
  4. au mieux
  5. au naturel
  6. au pair
  7. au pairs
  8. au reservoir
  9. au revoir
  10. Au Train
  11. Au.D.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: au pair (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-au pair.wav.

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