memsahib

English

Etymology

From ma'am +‎ sahib.

Noun

memsahib (plural memsahibs)

1. (India, historical, as a respectful term of address) A white European woman in colonial India.

   Coordinate term: sahib

   • 1911, Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 1, in The Secret Garden:

     She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible

   • 1997, Richard Dyer, White, →ISBN, page 184:

     This might be accomplished literally through missionary work (Plate 5.1), but that tended to be unattractively pro-active and spinsterish, and it was rather the memsahibs, the mothers, wives and daughters of the white officers and administrators, who were to instil civilisation, through the example of their own moral refinement.