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madam

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Madam and madám

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

madam (plural madams or mesdames)[2]

  1. A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
    Synonyms: dame, woman, lady, matron, mistress
    Coordinate terms: sir, gentleman
    Mrs Grey wondered if the outfit she was trying on made her look fat. The sales assistant just said, “It suits you, madam”.
    Later, Mrs Grey was sitting in her favourite tea shop. “Would madam like the usual cream cakes and patisserie with her tea?” the waitress asked.
    • 1857, Charles Reade, White Lies. A Story., volume I, London: Trübner & Co., […], page 276:
      “Nothing, madam, but a tumbler of wine with a little water—thank you, madam. Mesdames, great events have occurred since I left you.”
    • 1951 April, John H. Day, “The Breath of April”, in Pennsylvania Game News, volume XXII, number 1, Pennsylvania Game Commission, page 27, column 1:
      I leaned on the hoe, in classic pose, and watched the cowbird try to bust his buttons in that agonizing split whistle which is his serenade to the madam. Perhaps I should say to the mesdames, for this fellow is the Don Juan of the feathered world, with no moral standards and a distinct aversion to anything that resembles domestic ties.
    • 1987, Navasilu, page 81:
      “[…] This size, madam!” Certainly, the mesdames would not have been interested.
    • 2012, Bridget O’Donnell, Inspector Minahan Makes a Stand: The Missing Girls of England, Picador, →ISBN:
      After two years, Madam X was busy enough to take on a partner: Madam Z, aged twenty. Both regularly scouted new marks and told Stead that ‘nurse girls’ (nannies) were the best: ‘there are any number in [the parks] every morning and all are virgins’. Selling maidenhoods was their speciality. ‘Our gentlemen want maids,’ they said, ‘not damaged articles.’ ‘Come,’ he said to the mesdames, ‘what do you say to delivering me five [girls] on Saturday next? . . . Could you deliver me a parcel of maids, for me to distribute among my friends?’ Within a fortnight, the Mesdames had supplied Stead with seven girls between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
  2. The mistress of a household.
  3. (colloquial) A conceited or quarrelsome girl.
    Selina kept pushing and shoving during musical chairs. The nursery school teacher said she was a bad-tempered little madam.
  4. (slang) A woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for rich and important clients.
    Synonyms: (archaic) abbess, bawd, lady abbess, nookie-bookie, whoremistress, brothelkeeper
    Coordinate terms: (mostly for males) pimp, brothel-keeper
    After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.
    • 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 54:
      I sneaked into the house and stole my sister’s Hudson-seal fur coat out of the closet, then I beat it down to a whorehouse and sold it to the madam for $150.
  5. (India, derogatory slang) A hated or contemptuous woman; used as a general term of abuse

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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madam (third-person singular simple present madams, present participle madaming or (rare) madamming, simple past and past participle madamed or (rare) madammed)

  1. (transitive) To address as "madam".
    • 1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1671, →OCLC, Act III, page 33:
      Madam me no Madam, but learn to retrench your vvords; and ſay Mam; as yes Mam, and no Mam, as other Ladies VVomen do. Madam! 'tis a year in pronouncing.
    • [1736], [Erasmus Jones], Luxury, Pride and Vanity, the Bane of the British Nation. […], 4th edition, London: […] J[ames] Roberts […] and sold by Edward Withers, […] J[ohn] Joliffe […], →OCLC, page 11:
      In Houſes where great Numbers of theſe Wretches are lodg’d it is both merry and melancholy to hear what a Maiding and Madamming there is all Day long, from the top of the Houſe to the bottom.
    • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
      Don’t madam me, — I can’t bear none of your lip service. I’m a plain-spoken woman, that’s what I am, and I like other people’s tongues to be as plain as mine.
    • 1905, William Clark Russell, The Yarn of Old Harbour Town, page 208:
      He bowed to me, he madamed me, he was throughout as gentlemanlike and respectful as I had ever found him when we met at Old Harbour House or in Old Harbour Town.
    • 1988, Gahan Wilson, Eddy Deco's Last Caper, page 123:
      "I don't care," she said. "They'll be dead in a few minutes if you'll just do your job. Stop madaming me and get to work."
    • 1999, Onyekachukwu Pat Onyeibe, Captain Wazba, Suleja, Niger State: FloodGates, →OCLC, page 32:
      CAPTAIN WAZBA: (On Mrs. Nabele) Madam! / MRS NABELE: Will you stop madamming me? Madam! Madam! When did that start?
    • 2018, Terence Morgan, chapter II, in The Book of David: Goliath, Withern, Lincolnshire: Candleshoe Books, →ISBN, page 22:
      “I am honoured, madam,” he replied respectfully. / “Rizpah, not ‘madam’,” she said sharply. “I am not yet of an age when I can be ‘madammed’ with impunity. You, my father tells me, are called Goliath.”
    • 2019, Raman Sivashankar, chapter 6, in Forbidden Love & Other Stories, Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Notion Press, →ISBN:
      “This is a small gift for madam from our Chairman Madhav Nambiar; and this is for you sir.[”] Vivek handed over a sturdily packed 1 litre bottle of Dom Perignon champagne. […] “Thank you and your Chairman for your kindness. We are overwhelmed. Could you please stop sirring and madamming us? We would be more comfortable with Naresh and Tam. But....[”]
  2. (ambitransitive, rare) To be a madam; to run (a brothel).
    • 1937, Henry Hart, “The Tragedy of Literary Waste”, in Henry Hart, editor, The Writer in a Changing World, New York, N.Y.: Equinox Cooperative Press, →OCLC, page 108:
      The writer has never accepted the criterion “will it make money?” He has known that the application of such an irrelevancy to any of the arts and sciences resulted in sterility, error and waste. But what is more important, the writer will not pretend that this is not so. He will not pretend that the money criterion is a valid point of reference. The result has been that the writer has been kicked around from furnished room to the luxurious offices of advertising agencies and those palaces of prostitution which are madamed by public relations counsellors.
    • 1953, Lawrence S[idney] Thompson, Algernon D. Thompson, The Kentucky Novel, Lexington, Ky.: University of Kentucky Press, page 11:
      Margaret Long’s freudianized Louisville does not have the local color of the famous Lexington bordello madamed by the late Belle Breezing (in the process of being fictionized); […]
    • 1966, Sally Stanford, “Prologue”, in The Lady of the House: The Autobiography of Sally Stanford, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →LCCN, page 9:
      I DIDN’T set out to be a madam any more than Arthur Michael Ramsey, when he was a kid, set out to be Archbishop of Canterbury. Things just happened to both of us, I guess. […] Madaming is the sort of thing that happens to you—like getting a battlefield commission or becoming the Dean of Women at Stanford University.
    • 1970, Entertainment World, volume 2, part 1, →OCLC, page 16, column 3:
      Ray [Aghayan] also used warm golden colors for the friendly whorehouse madamed by Melina Mercouri.
    • 1971 August 30, Will Jones, “After Last Night”, in Minneapolis Tribune, volume CV, number 98, Minneapolis, Minn.: Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company, →OCLC, page 10B:
      A weird combination of forces is at work to steal back the $25,000 from him, and there’s a myopic, tennis-shoed, sadistic prison-guard captain, played by George Kennedy, who clearly wants to murder all three of them just for the sport of it. All this results in a weird circular chase that doesn’t go anywhere, but takes them into and out of boxcars and onto and off a floating cathouse madammed by Anne Baxter in makeup two degrees this side of a clown.
      A review of the film Fools’ Parade.
    • 1973, Susan Hall, quoting Pamela, “Business Women in a World of Pleasure”, in Ladies of the Night, New York, N.Y.: Prairie House, Trident Press, →OCLC, page 147:
      I’m in business for money. Madaming is the perfect place to meet presidents of large corporations who give me stock tips. Who gets the first news on new offers—me—sitting in my house of joy. I get a financial education which leads to money, and I like the men.
    • 2020, Addison Cain, chapter 2, in Swallow it Down, →ISBN:
      “[…] As far as earning those slips of paper, you trade for them.” The woman dared shove lacy panties and the slutty Halloween costume right into Eugenia’s chest. “You trade the one commodity you got.” […] “But… you’re still here.” / “By choice. I can walk out that door anytime I wish, take a walk by the lake. Visit City.” […] The indomitable Joan madamed by choice. For air conditioning and comfort. “The ship is a haven, but we all must do our part.”

Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Meredith, L. P. (1872) “Madam”, in Every-Day Errors of Speech‎[1], Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., page 30.
  2. ^ “mesdames”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present: “1 a plural of madam. 2 plural of madame.”

Anagrams

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Czech

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French madame.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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madam f (indeclinable)

  1. madam, lady

Further reading

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  • “madam”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “madam”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • “madam”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025
  • “madam” in Akademický slovník současné češtiny, 2012–2025, slovnikcestiny.cz

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Middle French madame.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /maːˈdɑm/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ma‧dam
  • Rhymes: -ɑm

Noun

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madam f (plural madammen or madams, diminutive madammeke n or madammeken n or madammetje n)

  1. madam, lady
  2. madam, female counterpart of a pimp

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Afrikaans: madam
  • → Indonesian: madam

Indonesian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Dutch madam, from Middle French madame.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈma.dam/
  • Rhymes: -dam
  • Hyphenation: ma‧dam

Noun

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madam (plural madam-madam)

  1. (colloquial) madame, lady
    Synonym: nyonya

Further reading

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Middle English

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Noun

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madam

  1. Alternative form of madame

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From French madame.

Noun

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madam m (definite singular madammen, indefinite plural madammer, definite plural madammene)

  1. madam

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French madame.

Noun

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madam f (definite singular madamma, indefinite plural madammer, definite plural madammene)

  1. madam

Slovak

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French madame.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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madam f (indeclinable)

  1. madam

Further reading

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  • “madam”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Swedish

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Noun

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madam c

  1. (dated) Synonym of fru
  2. (dated, derogatory) an old woman (generally)

Declension

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Declension of madam
nominative genitive
singular indefinite madam madams
definite madammen madammens
plural indefinite madammer madammers
definite madammerna madammernas

See also

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References

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Tagalog

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English madam, from Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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madám (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜇᜋ᜔)

  1. madam (polite term of address to a woman)
  2. (slang) madam (conceited girl)
  3. (slang) madam (woman who manages a brothel)

See also

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Further reading

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  • “madam”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
  • Panganiban, José Villa (1973) Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles (overall work in Tagalog and English), Quezon City: Manlapaz Publishing Co., page 678

Turkish

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Etymology

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From Ottoman Turkish مادام (madam), from French madame.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /mɑˈdɑm/
  • Hyphenation: ma‧dam
  • Rhymes: -dɑm

Noun

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madam (definite accusative madamı, plural madamlar)

  1. madam
    Synonym: madama

Declension

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Declension of madam
singular plural
nominative madam madamlar
definite accusative madamı madamları
dative madama madamlara
locative madamda madamlarda
ablative madamdan madamlardan
genitive madamın madamların
Possessive forms
nominative
singular plural
1st singular madamım madamlarım
2nd singular madamın madamların
3rd singular madamı madamları
1st plural madamımız madamlarımız
2nd plural madamınız madamlarınız
3rd plural madamları madamları
definite accusative
singular plural
1st singular madamımı madamlarımı
2nd singular madamını madamlarını
3rd singular madamını madamlarını
1st plural madamımızı madamlarımızı
2nd plural madamınızı madamlarınızı
3rd plural madamlarını madamlarını
dative
singular plural
1st singular madamıma madamlarıma
2nd singular madamına madamlarına
3rd singular madamına madamlarına
1st plural madamımıza madamlarımıza
2nd plural madamınıza madamlarınıza
3rd plural madamlarına madamlarına
locative
singular plural
1st singular madamımda madamlarımda
2nd singular madamında madamlarında
3rd singular madamında madamlarında
1st plural madamımızda madamlarımızda
2nd plural madamınızda madamlarınızda
3rd plural madamlarında madamlarında
ablative
singular plural
1st singular madamımdan madamlarımdan
2nd singular madamından madamlarından
3rd singular madamından madamlarından
1st plural madamımızdan madamlarımızdan
2nd plural madamınızdan madamlarınızdan
3rd plural madamlarından madamlarından
genitive
singular plural
1st singular madamımın madamlarımın
2nd singular madamının madamlarının
3rd singular madamının madamlarının
1st plural madamımızın madamlarımızın
2nd plural madamınızın madamlarınızın
3rd plural madamlarının madamlarının
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