breadwinner

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

breadwinner
    n 1: one whose earnings are the primary source of support for
         their dependents

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Breadwinner \Bread"win`ner\ (br[e^]d"w[i^]n`n[~e]r), n.
   The member of a family whose labor supplies the food of the
   family; one who works for his living. --H. Spencer.
   [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

40 Moby Thesaurus words for "breadwinner":
      blue-collar worker, casual, casual laborer, common laborer,
      day laborer, employee, factory worker, flunky, free lance,
      free-lancer, full-time worker, hand, industrial worker, jobber,
      jobholder, laborer, laboring man, menial, migrant, moiler, navvy,
      office temporary, proletarian, roustabout, salaried worker,
      self-employed person, servant, stiff, temporary, toiler,
      wage earner, wage slave, wageworker, worker, workgirl, workhand,
      working girl, workingman, workingwoman, workman