Fräulein

See also: fräulein, fraulein, and Fraulein

German

Etymology

Middle High German vrouwelīn (“mistress, young unmarried noblewoman”), equivalent to Frau +‎ -lein

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfʁɔɪ̯laɪ̯n/ (standard)
• IPA^(key): /ˈfʁɔlaɪ̯n/ (colloquially, especially northern and central Germany)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ̯n

Noun

Fräulein n (strong, genitive Fräuleins, plural Fräuleins or Fräulein)

1. diminutive of Frau (but not freely applicable)
2. (dated, address for an unmarried woman) miss

   Guten Morgen, Fräulein Schmitz! ― Good morning, Miss Schmitz!

3. miss, young woman (especially a shop assistant)

   Würden Sie mir kurz helfen, junges Fräulein! ― Would you help me please, miss!

4. young lady, missy (said jokingly or rebukingly to a little girl)

   So, jetzt reicht's aber, Fräulein! ― All right, that's enough, young lady!

5. (obsolete) A female animal or person

Usage notes

• Fräulein as a formal address for an unmarried woman is now uncommon and considered disrespectful and sexist by some. Frau is the normal address for all women.
• As an informal address for a girl or young woman whose name one does not know, particularly a shop assistant, the word is still fairly common, though chiefly restricted to older speakers. It is generally advised that it be replaced by Frau in all instances.

Declension

Declension of Fräulein [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Fräulein	die	Fräuleins, Fräulein
genitive	eines	des	Fräuleins	der	Fräuleins, Fräulein
dative	einem	dem	Fräulein	den	Fräuleins, Fräulein
accusative	ein	das	Fräulein	die	Fräuleins, Fräulein

Descendants

• → English: fraulein, Fraulein
• → Esperanto: fraŭlino
• → Georgian: ფრეილინა (preilina)
• → Kashubian: frélëna
• → Russian: фро́йляйн (frójljajn), фре́йлина (frɛ́jlina)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: фра̏јла

  Latin script: frȁjla

Further reading

• “Fräulein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Fräulein” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Fräulein” in Duden online
• Fräulein on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de