madam

See also: madám

English

Etymology

From Old French madame, from ma ‘my’ + dame ‘lady’, from post-classical Latin mea domina.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæd.əm/

Noun

madam (plural madams)

1. (dated in the UK) A polite form of address for a woman or lady.

   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.

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.

   After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.

Synonyms

• (polite form of address): dame, woman, lady, matron, mistress
• (woman who runs a brothel): abbess (archaic), bawd, lady abbess, nookie-bookie, whoremistress, (female) brothel-keeper

Coordinate terms

• (polite form of address): sir, gentleman
• (woman who runs a brothel): pimp, (male) brothel-keeper

Related terms

• madame
• ma'am

Translations

polite term of address to a woman

• Albanian: zonjë (sq) f
• Arabic: سَيِّدَة‎ f (sayyida), سَيِّدَتِي‎ f (sayyidatī) (my lady), أُسْتَاذَة‎ f (ʾustāḏa), مَدَام‎ f (madām)
• Armenian: տիկին (hy) (tikin)
• Azerbaijani: xanım, madam
• Basque: andere (eu)
• Belarusian: спада́рыня f (spadárynja), па́ні f (páni), мада́м (madám)
• Bengali: ঠাকরূণ (ṭhakrūṇ), শ্রীমতী (śrīmtī)
• Bulgarian: госпожа́ (bg) f (gospožá), мада́м f (madám)
• Burmese: ဒေါ် (my) (dau)
• Cherokee: ᎠᎨᏴ (ageyv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 太太 (zh) (tàitai), 女士 (zh) (nǚshì)

• Czech: paní (cs) f
• Danish: frue (da) c
• Dutch: mevrouw (nl) f
• Esperanto: sinjorino (eo)
• Estonian: proua
• Finnish: rouva (fi)
• French: madame (fr) f
• Georgian: ქალბატონი (kalbaṭoni)
• German: Frau (de) f, Fräulein (de) n (traditionally, for unmarried women)
• Greek: κυρία (el) f (kyría)
• Hebrew: גברת \ גְבֶרֶת‎ (he) f (gvéret)
• Hindi: महोदया (hi) f (mahodyā), साहिबा f (sāhibā), श्रीमती (hi) f (śrīmtī), मैडम (hi) f (maiḍam)
• Hungarian: asszonyom (hu), hölgyem
• Icelandic: frú (is) f
• Indonesian: nyonya (id), puan (id)
• Italian: signora (it) f
• Japanese: 奥様 (おくさま, okusama), 奥さん (おくさん, okusan)
• Kabuverdianu: nha
• Kazakh: ханым (kk) (xanım), мадам (kk) (madam)
• Korean: 아씨 (ko) (assi), 아가씨 (ko) (agassi) (to young woman), 아줌마 (ko) (ajumma)
• Kyrgyz: айым (ky) (ayım), мадам (madam)

• Lao: ມາດາມ (mā dām)
• Latvian: kundze f
• Lithuanian: ponia f
• Macedonian: госпоѓа f (gospoǵa)
• Malay: puan
• Maori: whae
• Mongolian: хатагтай (mn) (hatagtaj)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: frue (no) m, f

  Nynorsk: frue f

• Persian: خانم‎ (fa) (xânom), مادام‎ (fa) (mâdâm)
• Polish: pani (pl) f
• Portuguese: madame (pt) f, madama (pt) f, senhora (pt) f
• Romanian: doamnă (ro) f, madam (ro) f
• Russian: госпожа́ (ru) f (gospožá), мада́м (ru) f (madám), суда́рыня (ru) f (sudárynja) (obsolete), ба́рыня (ru) f (bárynja) (obsolete), да́ма (ru) f (dáma)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: госпођа f

  Roman: gospođa (sh) f

• Slovak: pani f
• Slovene: gospa (sl) f
• Spanish: señora (es) f
• Swedish: frun (sv) c, damen (sv) c
• Tajik: хонум (xonum)
• Thai: แหม่ม (th) (mɛ̀m), คุณนาย (th) (kun-naai), คุณม่าย
• Turkish: hanımefendi (tr), madam (tr), bayan (tr), hanım (tr)
• Turkmen: hanym
• Ukrainian: па́ні f (páni), мада́м f (madám)
• Urdu: صاحبہ‎ f (sāhibā)
• Uyghur: خېنىم‎ (xënim), خانىم‎ (xanim)
• Uzbek: xonim (uz), bekam, madam (uz)
• Venetian: siora (vec) f
• Vietnamese: bà (vi) (older), chị (vi), cô (vi)
• Zulu: inkosikazi class 9/10, unkosikazi class 1a/2a, uma (zu) class 1a/2a

mistress of a household

• Italian: padrona di casa f

• Portuguese: madame (pt) f, madama (pt) f

conceited girl

• Venetian: ciacola f, ciacolona f

woman who manages a brothel

• Czech: bordelmamá (cs) f
• Esperanto: bordelistino
• French: mère maquerelle (fr) f, maquerelle (fr) f, tenancière (fr), tenancière d’une maison close, souteneuse (fr) f (rare)
• German: Puffmutter (de) f, Bordellwirtin f
• Greek: τσατσά (el) f (tsatsá), ματρώνα f (matróna)
• Italian: madama (it) f
• Latin: lēna f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bordellmamma m, horemamma m

  Nynorsk: bordellmamma m, horemamma m

• Persian: دلاله‎ (fa) (dalâle)
• Polish: burdelmama (pl) f
• Portuguese: cafetina (pt) f
• Thai: แม่เล้า (th) (mɛ̂ɛ-láo), มาม่า (th) (maa-mâa), มาม่าซัง (maa-mâa-sang)
• Turkish: mama (tr)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To address as "madam".
   • 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."

See also

• pimp
• pimping

Anagrams

• Damma, damma, ḍamma

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French madame.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːˈdɑm/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ma‧dam
• Rhymes: -ɑm

Noun

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

• kakmadam

Descendants

• Afrikaans: madam

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Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French madame.

Noun

madam (definite accusative madamı, plural madamlar)

1. madam

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	madam
Definite accusative	madamı
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	madam	madamlar
Definite accusative	madamı	madamları
Dative	madama	madamlara
Locative	madamda	madamlarda
Ablative	madamdan	madamlardan
Genitive	madamın	madamların
Possessive forms 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