mister

See also: Mister and míster

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: mĭsʹ-tər, IPA^(key): /ˈmɪstəɹ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): [ˈmɪstə(ɹ)]
• (US) IPA^(key): [ˈmɪstɚ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstə(ɹ)
• Homophones: Mr., Mister
• Hyphenation: mis‧ter

Etymology 1

Unaccented variant of master, attested since the 15th century.

Noun

mister (plural misters)

1. A title conferred on an adult male, usually when the name is unknown. Also used as a term of address, often by a parent to a young child.

   You may sit here, mister.

   • 1855, George Musalas Colvocoresses, Four Years in the Government Exploring Expedition, J. M. Fairchild & co., page 358:

     Fine day to see sights, gentlemen. Well, misters, here's the railing round the ground, and there's the paling round the tomb, eight feet deep, six feet long, and three feet wide.

   • 1908, Jack Brand, By Wild Waves Tossed: An Ocean Love Story, The McClure Company, page 90:

     There's only three misters aboard this ship, or, rather, there's only two.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Therum:

     Liara: We have to hurry. The whole place is caving in!
     Shepard: Joker! Get the Normandy airbone and lock in on my signal. On the double, mister!

   • 2013, Asterix and the Picts, page 37:

     Asterix: What? And only now you tell us?
     Obelix: I was talking to the future queen, mister Asterix!
     Asterix: And I advise you to change your tone, mister Obelix!
     Obelix: The future queen and I don't need your advice, mister Asterix! Mister Asterix gives too much advice anyway!

Usage notes

Use of the term, enunciated with extra emphasis, may express scorn.

Coordinate terms

• (titles) (of a man): Mr (Mister, mister), Sir (sir); (of a woman): Ms (Miz, mizz), Mrs (Mistress, mistress), Miss (miss), Dame (dame), Madam (madam, ma'am); (of a non-binary person): Mx (Mixter); (see also): Dr (Doctor, doctor) ^{(Category: en:Titles)}

Derived terms

• misters before sisters
• sisters before misters
• sister from another mister

Descendants

• → Italian: mister
• → Japanese: ミスター (misutā)
• → Polish: mister
• → Portuguese: míster
• → Spanish: míster
• → Russian: мистер (mister)

Translations

title of adult male

• Albanian: zotëri (sq)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: hastiin

• Arabic: سَيِّد m (sayyid), أُسْتَاذ (ar) (ʔustāḏ), بَاشَا m (bāšā), جَنَاب m (janāb), سَيِّدِي (sayyidī, literally “my Sir”)
• Armenian: պարոն (hy) (paron)
• Aromanian: domnu
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܝܲܩܪܵܐ m (myaqrā), ܡܵܪܝ m (mār), ܪܲܒܝܼ m (rabbī)
• Azerbaijani: cənab (az), bəy (az)
• Basque: jaun
• Belarusian: пан m (pan), па́не m (pánje) (vocative), спада́р (be) m (spadár), спада́ру m (spadáru) (vocative)
• Bulgarian: господи́н (bg) m (gospodín)
• Carpathian Rusyn: пан m (pan)
• Catalan: senyor (ca)
• Chamicuro: chmes̈hona
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 先生 (sin¹ saang¹)

  Mandarin: 先生 (zh) (xiānsheng)

• Czech: pán (cs) m, pane (cs) m (vocative)
• Dalmatian: sinaur m, sinar m
• Danish: hr. (da) (rarely written herr, a short form of herre)
• Dutch: meneer (nl)
• Erzya: чиряз (čiŕaz)
• Esperanto: Sinjoro (eo)
• Estonian: härra
• Finnish: herra (fi)
• French: monsieur (fr) m
• Friulian: missâr, signôr
• Georgian: ბატონი (baṭoni), ბატონო (baṭono) (vocative)
• German: Herr (de) m
• Greek: κύριος (el) m (kýrios)
• Haitian Creole: konpè, mesye
• Hausa: malam (ha)
• Hawaiian: mika
• Hebrew: מַר (he) m (mar), ׳הא
• Hindi: श्री (hi) (śrī), जी (hi) (jī), साहिब (hi) m (sāhib), साहब (hi) m (sāhab), श्रीमान (hi) m (śrīmān)
• Hungarian: úr (hu)
• Icelandic: herra (is) m
• Igbo: Maàzị
• Indonesian: tuan (id), bapak (id)
• Interlingua: senior
• Italian: signore (it) m
• Japanese: さん (ja) (san), 様 (ja) (さま, sama), 氏 (ja) (し, shi)
• Kannada: ಶ್ರೀ (kn) (śrī)
• Kazakh: мырза (myrza)
• Korean: 씨 (ko) (-ssi), 님 (ko) (-nim), 미스터 (miseuteo)
• Kyrgyz: мырза (mırza), господин (ky) (gospodin)
• Latin: dominus (la) m
• Macedonian: господин m (gospodin)
• Malay:

  Jawi: انچيق, توان

  Rumi: encik, tuan (ms)

• Malayalam: ശ്രീ (ml) (śrī)
• Marathi: श्रीयुत m (śrīyut)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: ноён (mn) (nojon)

• Navajo: hastiin
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: herre (no) m

• Occitan: sénher (oc)
• Pannonian Rusyn: пан m (pan)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: آقا (fa) (âğâ), آغا (fa) (âğâ), مِهْتَر (mehtar), بُزُرْگ (bozorg), سِیِّد (seyyed), خواجِه (xâje), جِناب (jenâb)

• Polish: pan (pl) m, panie m (vocative)
• Portuguese: senhor (pt) m
• Quechua: tata
• Romanian: domn (ro) m
• Russian: господи́н (ru) m (gospodín), ми́стер (ru) (místɛr) (used in translations)
• Sardinian: sannori, segnore, segnori, sennore
• Scottish Gaelic: Maighstir (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: госпо̀дин m

  Roman: gospòdin (sh) m

• Slovak: pán (sk) m, pane (sk) m (vocative)
• Slovene: gospod (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kněz m

• Spanish: señor (es) m
• Swedish: herr (sv) c
• Tagalog: ginoong (tl)
• Tajik: оғо (oġo), ҷаноб (tg) (janob)
• Tamil: திரு (ta) m (tiru), ஐயா (ta) m (aiyā)
• Tatar: әфәнде (tt) (äfände)
• Telugu: శ్రీ (te) (śrī)
• Thai: นาย (th) (naai)
• Turkish: bay (tr), sayın (tr)
• Turkmen: jenap (tk)
• Ukrainian: пан (uk) m (pan), па́не m (páne) (vocative)
• Urdu: صاحِب m (sāhib)
• Uyghur: جاناپ (janap)
• Uzbek: janob (uz)
• Welsh: mistar m
• Yiddish: אדוני m (adoyni), אדון m (adoyn), הער m (her)
• Yoruba: Ọ̀gbẹ́ni

Verb

mister (third-person singular simple present misters, present participle mistering, simple past and past participle mistered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To address by the title of "mister". [from 18th c.]
   • 1837-39, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

     “Hush! hush! Mr. Sikes,” said the Jew, trembling; “don’t speak so loud!”
     “None of your mistering,” replied the ruffian; “you always mean mischief when you come that. You know my name: out with it! I shan’t disgrace it when the time comes.”

Etymology 2

From Middle English mister, myster, from Anglo-Norman mester, meister (et al.), from Latin misterium, a medieval conflation of Latin ministerium (“ministry”) with Latin mysterium (“mystery”). Doublet of métier.

Noun

mister (plural misters)

1. (obsolete) Someone's business or function; an occupation, employment, trade.
2. (now rare, dialectal) A kind, type of.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     The Redcrosse knight toward him crossed fast,
     To weet, what mister wight was so dismayd […].

   • 1772, William Browne, The Works of William Browne: Containing Britannia's Pastorals, page 83:

     What mister-chance hath brought thee to the field Without thy sheepe?

   • 1779, Samuel Johnson, “A Fairy Tale”, in The Works of the English Poets, page 27:

     For als he been a mister wight Betray'd by wandering in the night To tread the circled haunt;

3. (obsolete) Need (of something).
   • 1603, Ane verie excellent and delectabill treatise intitulit Philotus:

     He is richt gude, Ane man of wealth and nobill blude, Bot hes mair mister of ane Hude.

   • 1692, Jacob Curate, The Scotch Presbyterian eloquence:

     England, that stands muckle in mister of a Reformation.

   • 1792, John Pinkerton, Scotish Poems:

     Now is over lait to preis my freind indeid , Quhan that I have sik mister, and sik neid: Better had bene be tyme I had overtane, To preis my freind, quhen mister had I nane.

4. (obsolete) Necessity; the necessary time.
   • 1543, John Stuart, Extracts from the Council Register of the Burgh of Aberdeen:

     That the portis be mendytt and lokit and reformit as mister is.

   • 1722, John Lauder Fountainhall, Journals of Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, with his observations on public affairs and other memoranda 1665-1676:

     Which works the church had in its treasury to sell at mister.

   • 1754, John Livingston, A Brief Historical Relation of the Life of Mr J. Livingston, page 68:

     When his Máster shall say, Ha Sir, I know you well enough; ye did speak indeed but never in a mister; ye did sneak, as they use to say, when none speired at you, ye were stout then;

   • 1793, Charles Viner, A General Abridgment of Law and Equity:

     If 2 coparceners are seised of land, and one releases to the other in fee with warranty; this passes by way of mister le estate.

Verb

mister (third-person singular simple present misters, present participle mistering, simple past and past participle mistered)

1. (obsolete, impersonal) To be necessary; to matter.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vii:

     As for my name, it mistreth not to tell;
     Call me the Squyre of Dames that me beseemeth well.

   • 1734, Robert Keith, The History of the Affairs of Chuch and State in Scotland, page 489:

     I mister not to write mair of Bissiness to zour Lordschip; bot, as I hear, how soon the Compris of thair Factoris is hard, that thai will gif thame new Commissionis again, or utheris in thair Placis.

Etymology 3

mist +‎ -er

Noun

mister (plural misters)

1. A device that makes or sprays mist.

   Odessa D. uses a mister Sunday to fight the 106-degree heat at a NASCAR race in Fontana, California.

   • 2017, Steve Alvest, The Life Actionbook:

     Use a mister and steamer. If you're avoiding fat, use an oil mister while cooking. Using a steamer for cooking can also cut down on the amount of oil you consume.

Related terms

• demister

Anagrams

• ermits, merits, miters, mitres, remits, smiter, timers, tremis

Danish

Verb

mister

1. present of miste

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English mister.

Noun

mister m (invariable)

1. mister (appellation)
2. (soccer) coach (trainer)

Anagrams

• stremi

Latvian

Noun

mister m

1. vocative singular of misters

Middle English

Alternative forms

• maister, mester, mestere, mestier, meyster, mistere, myster, mystere, mystir
• (early) meoster

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman mester, from Medieval Latin misterium, a variant of ministerium influenced by mysterium. Doublet of mysterie (“duty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /misˈtɛːr/, /ˈmistər/

Noun

mister (plural mysteres)

1. A station or position in an organisation:
   1. One's job; a profession.
   2. One's role, purpose, or duty.
   3. A proficiency; a learned talent.
2. An association of tradespeople; a guild.
3. Requirement; that which is necessary:
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “viij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book VII:

     And thenne the grene knyghte kneled doune
     and dyd hym homage with his swerd
     thenne said the damoisel me repenteth grene knyghte of your dommage
     and of youre broders dethe the black knyghte
     for of your helpe I had grete myster
     For I drede me sore to passe this forest
     Nay drede you not sayd the grene knyghte
     for ye shal lodge with me this nyghte
     and to morne I shalle helpe you thorou this forest

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XV, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:

     It was by Merlyns auyse said the knyghte
     As for hym sayd kynge Carados
     I wylle encountre with kynge bors
     and ye wil rescowe me whan myster is
     go on said they al
     we wil do all that we may

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. A perilous or challenging situation.
5. A situation of great want or need; penury.
6. A custom, way, or behaviour.

Derived terms

• mysteren
• myster man

Descendants

• English: mister (obsolete)
• Scots: mister

References

• “mister, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-17.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

mister

1. present tense of miste

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

mister

1. present of mista

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English mister.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmis.tɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -istɛr
• Syllabification: mis‧ter

Noun

mister m pers

1. sir

   Synonym: pan

2. winner of a beauty pageant

Declension

Declension of mister

	singular	plural
nominative	mister	misterzy/mistery (deprecative)
genitive	mistera	misterów
dative	misterowi	misterom
accusative	mistera	misterów
instrumental	misterem	misterami
locative	misterze	misterach
vocative	misterze	misterzy

Further reading

• mister in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• mister in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese mester, *mẽester, from Latin ministerium (“employment”). Doublet of ministério.

Alternative forms

• mester

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /misˈtɛʁ/ [misˈtɛh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /misˈtɛʁ/ [misˈtɛh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /misˈtɛɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /miʃˈtɛʁ/ [miʃˈtɛχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /misˈtɛɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /miʃˈtɛɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /miʃˈtɛɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /miʃˈtɛ.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: mis‧ter

Adjective

mister (invariable)

1. (law) of the utmost importance
2. necessary

Descendants

• Macanese: mestê

Noun

mister m (plural misteres)

1. office, work, employment, occupation, profession

   Synonyms: ofício, profissão, serviço, trabalho

2. position in a profession

   Synonyms: cargo, posição

3. need; necessity

   Synonym: necessidade

Etymology 2

Unadapted borrowing from English mister.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmis.teʁ/ [ˈmis.teh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmis.teʁ/ [ˈmis.teh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈmis.teɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈmiʃ.teʁ/ [ˈmiʃ.teχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmis.teɻ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmiʃ.tɛɾ/

Noun

mister m (plural misters)

1. Alternative form of míster

Romanian

Alternative forms

• misteriu

Etymology

Borrowed from French mystère.

Noun

mister n (plural mistere)

1. mystery

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	mister	misterul		mistere	misterele
genitive-dative	mister	misterului		mistere	misterelor
vocative	misterule			misterelor

Swedish

Verb

mister

1. present indicative of mista

Anagrams

• Merits, smiter

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English mister. Doublet of maestro.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈmisteɾ/ [ˈmis.t̪ɛɾ], /misˈteɾ/ [mɪsˈt̪ɛɾ]
• Rhymes: -isteɾ, -eɾ
• Syllabification: mis‧ter

Noun

mister or mistér (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜐ᜔ᜆᜒᜇ᜔)

1. (capitalized) Mister

   Synonym: Ginoo

2. (colloquial) husband

   Synonyms: esposo, bana, asawa

See also

• misis

 

Further reading

• “mister”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2024
• “mister”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
• “mister”, in Pinoy Dictionary, 2010–2024