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

French

Etymology

From mon (“my”) + sieur, from the oblique case of Old French sire (cf. also seignor), ultimately from Latin senior. 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 (most) words in -er. Monsieur and gars are two relics of this pronunciation habit.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio:

  (file)

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.

  The/This gentleman/The patient/Mr. [name] 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 13h30.

  The director will be making a presentation at 3:30pm.

  Madame le Président 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
• → 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)
• → 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