kalfa

Kalfa (Turkish for 'apprentice, assistant master') was a general term in the Ottoman Empire for the women attendants and supervisors in service in the imperial palace. Novice girls had to await promotion to the rank of . It was a rank below that of ('master'), the title of the leading administrative/supervisory officers of the harem. The titles and belong to the terminology of Ottoman guild organization and other hierarchically-organized corporate bodies. Legally slave girls, these women—depending on their rank—could wield considerable authority and influence in their duties and were generally treated with much respect by lower-ranking slave attendants in the harem as well as by members of the imperial family.

Among craftsmen the term had a similar rank: that of a junior master yet to graduate to status and open his own shop.