domestic service; working as a housemaid
Archaic term referring to live-in domestic service, typically by young women in pre-modern Japan. Not used in modern contexts.
In the Edo period, many young women went into domestic service.
Compound of 女中 (maidservant) and 奉公 (service, apprenticeship). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the term reflects the practice of live-in domestic service in pre-modern Japan.