madam

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈmæd.əm/ See IPA manual

Freq #1061

Meanings

1

noun
A polite way of addressing a woman, especially a customer.

The sales assistant smiled and said, "It suits you, madam."
2

noun
A woman who runs a brothel.

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

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · a woman who runs a brothel. brothel keeper

Word family

Forms madams

Derived forms bemadammadamhoodmadamishmadamji

Related forms m'ladyma'am madame mademoiselle pimppimping

Etymology

From Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.

madame Middle English mea domina Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# madam

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈmæd.əm/
**Frequency rank:** 1061

## Meanings
1. A polite way of addressing a woman, especially a customer.
2. A woman who runs a brothel.

## Examples
- The sales assistant smiled and said, "It suits you, madam."
- After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.

## Derived Forms
- bemadam
- madamhood
- madamish
- madamji

## Related Forms
- m'lady
- ma'am
- madame
- mademoiselle
- pimp
- pimping

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: madame
- Root: mea domina

## Etymology
From Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.

## AI Etymology
Madam comes from Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna. In present-day English its meanings include a polite way of addressing a woman, especially a customer and a woman who runs a brothel. The historical chain runs through madame (Middle English), madame (Old French), and mea domina (Latin). Related and derived forms include m'lady, ma'am, madame, and bemadam.

## Topics
- People & Society

markdown