housewife

housewife  [hous-wahyf]. noun

1. Sometimes offensive. A married woman who manages her own household, especially as her principal occupation.

2. British. a sewing box; a small case or box for needles, thread, etc.

So it turns out that the word housewife is quite closely related, etymologically speaking, to the word hussy.  Do you believe that shit? The word housewife goes all the way back to the thirteenth century in England, but an alternate pronunciation was hussif. By 1520 or thereabouts, a hussy was either 1. a brazen or immoral woman, or 2. a mischievous, impudent, or ill-behaved girl.

OK. Maybe it makes sense after all.