monsieur

See also: Monsieur

English

Etymology

From French monsieur. Doublet of monseigneur and monsignor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈsjʊə(ɹ)/, /məˈsjɜː(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

monsieur (plural monsieurs or messieurs)

1. (dated) A man, especially a French gentleman.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Cabin”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 589:

     Pass round the decanters; glad to see ye; fill up, monsieurs!

Related terms

• croque-monsieur

Anagrams

• inermous

Dutch

Etymology

From French monsieur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈʃøː/, /məsˈjøː/
• Hyphenation: mon‧si‧eur
• Rhymes: -øː

Noun

monsieur m (plural messieurs, no diminutive)

1. monsieur

Related terms

• croque-monsieur

French

Etymology

From mon (“my”) +‎ sieur, from the oblique case of Old French sire (the nominative case giving rise to messire), ultimately from Latin senior (whence also seigneur). The first syllable has been reduced through frequent use. Loss of word-final /r/ was common in Early Modern French, but failed to establish itself except in the morphemes -er and -ier. Monsieur and gars are two relics of this pronunciation habit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mə.sjø/

• Audio (France (Paris)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): (archaic, sometimes jocular) /mɔ.sjø/, (obsolete) /mɔ̃.sjø/

Noun

monsieur m (plural messieurs)

1. mister, sir (a title or form of address for a man, used with or without the name in direct or third-person address)
2. gentleman

   Il y a un monsieur pour vous voir.

   There's a gentleman here to see you.

Usage notes

• A custom held that it was impolite to use Monsieur with a family name (e.g. Monsieur Dupont) in direct address from a hierarchical inferior to a superior, unless it was needed to disambiguate. Instead, one should simply address the person as Monsieur. This custom may now be obsolete.

• Unlike in English, Monsieur is frequently used without a name or article as a polite reference to a man in the third person, notably in official registers:

  Monsieur s'est présenté à l'urgence à 18 h 12.

  This gentleman attended the emergency room at 6:12 p.m.

• Additionally, Monsieur (and Madame) are sometimes used in conjunction with titles/roles in formal registers.

  Monsieur le Directeur fera une annoncement à 13 h 30.

  The director will be making a presentation at 1:30 p.m.

  Madame la Présidente a prononcé un discours en lequel elle a dit que la guerre n'est pas juste.

  The president has made a speech in which she said that the war is unjust.

• Although un/le monsieur is used as a common noun to mean "a/the gentleman", using the word une/la madame to mean "a/the lady" is considered childish language. Instead, une/la dame is used.

Synonyms

• M.
• M^r

Derived terms

• mesdames et messieurs
• Monsieur Durand
• monsieur je-sais-tout
• Monsieur Propre

Related terms

• monseigneur
• sieur
• sire

Descendants

(Some of these may be derived from Middle French.)

• Saint Dominican Creole French: mouché
  • Haitian Creole: mesye, msye
• → Dutch: monsieur
• → English: monsieur
• → Fula: musel
• → Hausa: mùshê
• → Ladino: musyu
• → Ottoman Turkish: موسیو (mösyö), միւսիւ (müsü) — Armeno-Turkish
  • Turkish: mösyö
  • → Armenian: միւսիւ (miwsiw)
• → Romanian: musiu
• → Russian: месье́ (mesʹjé), мсьё (msʹjo)
• → Spanish: mesié, musiú
• → Vietnamese: me-xừ

See also

• madame
• mademoiselle
• monseigneur

Further reading

• “monsieur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• muerions
• remuions