小姐

Chinese

		small; tiny; few small; tiny; few; young	older sister
trad. (小姐)		小	姐
simp. #(小姐)		小	姐

Noun

(deprecated template usage) 小姐

1. Miss (a term of address for a young or unmarried woman)

   王小姐來了。／王小姐来了。  ―  Wáng xiǎojiě lái le.  ―  Miss Wang is here. / Miss Wang is coming.

2. young lady
3. (dated or slang) barmaid; prostitute

Usage notes

• In mainland China, 小姐 is less used to mean “young lady” because the meaning “prostitute” took over the original meaning; 女士 (nǚshì) is used instead.
  • One can still use 小姐 as a title (see the usage example).
  • Do not use 小姐 to call a waitress, but use the neutral word 服務員／服务员 (fúwùyuán) for that instead.
  • The definition may revert somewhat in the distant future (as with 姑娘 (gūniang)).

Synonyms

• 女士 (nǚshì, “lady; miss”)

See also

• 太太 (tàitai, “madame, wife”)
• 夫人 (fūrén, “madame”)
• 先生 (xiānshēng, “mister”)

References

• “Entry #362”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

(deprecated template usage)