A milkmaid was historically a woman, usually young, who milked cows and supplied milk. The term is not a female equivalent of milkman.

In previous centuries, before vaccination became common, milkmaids were sometimes cited as the example of someone with good skin. This was in part due to the fact that their exposure to cowpox gave them immunity to smallpox, so they did not have the "pockmarked" complexion common to smallpox survivors.

In the sexual fetishism or paraphilia of milk fetishism, the name is also given to women who supply milk for sexual purposes.

Cultural references

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• There is a famous painting by Jan Vermeer entitled The Milkmaid (ca. 1658). Aelbert Cuyp, another Dutch artist, created the drawing known as A Milkmaid (ca. 1640 – 1650).
• One of the fables of Aesop is called “The Milkmaid and Her Pail”.
• The California native flower commonly called Milkmaids is named for its resemblance to the hat often worn by milkmaids.

Anecdote

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Elizabeth I is quoted as saying to one of her attendants, “That milkmaid’s lot is better than mine, and her life merrier,” in 1554 during her imprisonment as princess, in which she heard a milkmaid singing while working.

Animal care occupations | Milk

Milchmädchen