different between madame vs frau

English

Alternative forms

• Madame

Etymology

Borrowed from French madame, from Old French ma dame (“my lady”). Doublet of madam and Madonna.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /m??d??m/, /?mæ.d?m/
• (US) IPA^(key): /m??dæm/, /m??d?m/, /mæ?dæm/, /mæ?d?m/, /?mæ.d?m/
• Rhymes: -æm

Noun

madame (plural madames or mesdames)

1. Alternative form of madam

Derived terms

• Madame Bishop

Related terms

• croque-madame
• grande madame
• Madame Berthe's mouse lemur
• Madame Tussaud's

Anagrams

• ma'amed

Finnish

Noun

madame

1. madam

Declension

French

Etymology

ma +? dame From Old French ma dame (my lady).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.dam/

Noun

madame f (plural mesdames)

1. a title or form of address for a woman, formerly for a married woman and now commonly for any adult woman regardless of marital status, used both in direct and third-person address.

   Si vous êtes libre, pourriez-vous aider madame, s'il vous plaît?

   If you're free, could you help this lady, please?

2. madam, Mrs. or Ms.
3. (in children's language, childish) Lady, woman.

   Dis merci à la madame.

   Say thank you to the lady.

4. the female employer of a domestic servant
   • 2020, Laure Stéphan, « Ma Madame m’a dit qu’ils ne pouvaient plus me payer » : au Liban, le calvaire des domestiques éthiopiennes, Le Monde:

     Mazaa, 23 ans, ancienne nourrice et femme de ménage, croix autour du cou, cache son visage. « Ma Madame (employeuse) m’a dit qu’ils ne pouvaient plus me payer. [...] »

     Mazaa, 23 years old, former nanny and housekeeper, a cross around her neck, hides her face. "My madame (employer) told me they couldn't pay me anymore. [...]"

Synonyms

• dame, lady
• (title, form of address): (abbreviations) M^me, Mme.

Derived terms

Coordinate terms

• mademoiselle
• monsieur

Descendants

• ? Russian: ?????? (madám)

Further reading

• “madame” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

madame f

1. plural of madama

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ma dame, madam, madaum, maydame, madde dame

Etymology

From Old French madame; compare dame.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma?da?m(?)/, /ma?dam(?)/, /ma?-/

Noun

madame (plural madames)

1. madam (polite term of address or (less often) title for a noble lady)

Descendants

• English: madam; ma'am
• Scots: madam

References

• “ma-dam(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• madama

Etymology

Borrowed from French madame.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ami

Noun

madame f (plural madames)

1. madam (polite term of address to a woman)
2. madam (mistress of a household)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French madame.

Noun

madame f (plural madames)

1. madam (polite term of address to a woman)
2. madam (mistress of a household)

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Frau. Doublet of frow and vrouw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

frau (plural fraus)

1. A woman, especially a German woman.

Anagrams

• Rauf, Urfa, fuar

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin fraus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?f?aw/
• Rhymes: -aw

Noun

frau m (plural fraus)

1. fraud

Further reading

• “frau” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “frau” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “frau” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “frau” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

German

Etymology

From Frau by making the first letter lower-case. Coined as an alternative to the male-sounding word man (“one”), which is cognate and homophonous with Mann (“adult male”). First used by feminists when writing about women, then occasionally used in general contexts. Compare the pronoun mensch. Compare also the use of she vs he in English to refer to someone whose gender is unknown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fra??/
• Homophone: Frau
• Rhymes: -a??

Pronoun

frau

1. (indefinite, informal, slang, rare) one, they (indefinite third-person singular pronoun)
   • 1998, Matthias Matussek, Die vaterlose Gesellschaft: überfällige Anmerkungen zum Geschlechterkampf, page 47:

     Sie ist selbst dann noch beschissen, wenn frau sie beendet hat.

   • 2003, Ulrike Schlicht, Selbsterweiterungsprozesse alleinlebender Frauen, ?ISBN, page 218:

     Wenn frau sich kennt, braucht sie nicht vor sich wegzulaufen.

   • 2008, Gaye Suse Kromer, Obszöne Lust oder etablierte Unterhaltung?, page 163:

     Erst mal sechs Jahre alleine und frau muss auch zusehen, dass sie sich gerne hat. Das liebe ich, mit mir selbst zu sein und mich zu mögen und mich zu streicheln.

Usage notes

• The word is more frequently used by left-wing and/or feminist writers and speakers, which may use this word in a serious formal context, where this word is not usually acceptable, in order to express their political views. In informal context, such as magazine articles, frau is usually used just once in a text as a stylistic flourish to underline that a women-specific topic is discussed.

References

Further reading

• “frau” in Duden online

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• fraud

Etymology

From Old Norse frauð.

Noun

frau f or m (definite singular frauen or fraua, indefinite plural frauer or frauar, definite plural frauene or frauane)

1. (chiefly uncountable) This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Inflection

Related terms

• frode

References

• “frau” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• frua, fura