chatelaine

Meaning

Noun

• The mistress of a castle or large household.
• A chain or clasp worn at the waist by women with handkerchief, keys, etc., attached, supposed to resemble the chain of keys once worn by medieval chatelaines.
• A similar thing in miniature attached to a watchchain.

Origin

• Borrowed from French châtelaine, the feminine form of châtelain, from Medieval Latin castellanus ("occupants of a castle"), from castellum (diminutive of castrum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- ("to cut off, separate")) + -ānus.