señorita

See also: senorita and Señorita

English

Alternative forms

• senorita

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish señorita. Doublet of senhorita.

Pronunciation

• (Anglicised) IPA^(key): /sɛn.jəˈɹiː.tə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːtə

Noun

señorita (plural señoritas)

1. A young, unmarried woman in or from a Hispanophone community.

   I love it when you call me señorita.

2. A small species of wrasse, Oxyjulis californica.
   • 1991, Martha Holmes, Sea Trek, BBC Books, page 79:

     The golden, cigar-shaped señoritas occur in schools that number from just a few fish to many hundreds.

Translations

courtesy title for an unmarried woman in a Hispanophone country

• Estonian: senjoriita
• Japanese: セニョリータ (senyoriita)
• Russian: сеньори́та (ru) f (senʹoríta)
• Spanish: señorita (es) f

Anagrams

• Reitanos, Restaino, airstone, arsonite, asterion, notaries, notarise, rai stone, tonaries

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Spanish señor

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Italic *-ā

Latin -a

Old Spanish -a

Spanish -a

Spanish señora

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tosder.?

Late Latin -ittus

Spanish -ito

Spanish -ita

Spanish señorita

From señora + -ita.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seɲoˈɾita/ [se.ɲoˈɾi.t̪a]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ita
• Syllabification: se‧ño‧ri‧ta

Noun

señorita f (plural señoritas, masculine señorito, masculine plural señoritos)

1. young woman

   Colombia es conocida por sus bonitas señoritas. ― Colombia has a reputation for its pretty young women

2. Miss (used as a title)

   Alternative forms: (used before a name) Señorita; (abbreviation) Srta., Srta; seño

3. (female) snob
4. diminutive of señora

Descendants

• → Cebuano: senyorita
• → Tagalog: senyorita

Further reading

• “señorito”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025