madam
Syllables: mad·am/ˈmædəm/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Philippines/mɐˈdam/
madam noun: a polite form of address for a woman or lady.
Noun (1)
madam (plural madams or mesdames)
- A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
- Mrs Grey wondered if the outfit she was trying on made her look fat. The sales assistant just said, “It suits you, madam”.
- Later, Mrs Grey was sitting in her favourite tea shop. “Would madam like the usual cream cakes and patisserie with her tea?” the waitress asked.
- The mistress of a household.
- A conceited or quarrelsome girl.
- Selina kept pushing and shoving during musical chairs. The nursery school teacher said she was a bad-tempered little madam.
- A woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for rich and important clients.
- After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.
- I sneaked into the house and stole my sister’s Hudson-seal fur coat out of the closet, then I beat it down to a whorehouse and sold it to the madam for $150.1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 54
- Synonyms:
- abbess, bawd, lady abbess, nookie-bookie, whoremistress, brothelkeeper
- A hated or contemptuous woman; used as a general term of abuse
Verb
madam (third-person singular simple present madams, present participle madaming or (rare) madamming, simple past and past participle madamed or (rare) madammed)
- To address as "madam".
- Madam me no Madam, but learn to retrench your vvords; and ſay Mam; as yes Mam, and no Mam, as other Ladies VVomen do. Madam! 'tis a year in pronouncing.1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published...
- In Houſes where great Numbers of theſe Wretches are lodg’d it is both merry and melancholy to hear what a Maiding and Madamming there is all Day long, from the top of the Houſe to the bottom.[1736], [Erasmus Jones], Luxury, Pride and Vanity, the Bane of the British Nation. […], 4th edition, London: […] J[ames] Roberts […] and sold by Edward Withers, […] J[ohn] Joliffe […], →OCLC, page 11
- To be a madam; to run (a brothel).
- The writer has never accepted the criterion “will it make money?” He has known that the application of such an irrelevancy to any of the arts and sciences resulted in sterility, error and waste. But what is more important, the writer will not pretend that this is not so. He will not pretend that...1937, Henry Hart, “The Tragedy of Literary Waste”, in Henry Hart, editor, The Writer in a Changing World, New York, N.Y.: Equinox Cooperative Press, →OCLC, page 108
- Margaret Long’s freudianized Louisville does not have the local color of the famous Lexington bordello madamed by the late Belle Breezing (in the process of being fictionized); […]1953, Lawrence S[idney] Thompson, Algernon D. Thompson, The Kentucky Novel, Lexington, Ky.: University of Kentucky Press, page 11
Noun (2) capitalized: Madam
Madam (plural Madams or Mesdames)
- Alternative letter-case form of madam.
- The conſtant queſtion, upon her offering to ſtir abroad, was, where are you going Madam? To ſee the King my papa, replied the Princeſs. That cannot be Madam. No? why ſo? It is not the Etiquette. — And thus, if ſhe had a mind to viſit any of the Mesdames, the king’s ſiſters or aunts, ſhe was always...1792, I. G. Rievethal, Lectures Intended for the Instruction and Amusement of Young People, Who Apply Themselves to the English Tongue, Riga: I. Fr. Hartknoch, pages 49–50
- And nowadays the Madam will blame the Worker’s Unions […] Very unnatural but the Mesdames take the girls for granted2008, Dave M. Save, Mano a Mano—Quote, Unquote, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 423
- A polite form of address and title, abbreviated Mdm, used before a (usually middle-aged) adult or elderly woman's surname, full name or given name if she does not have a family name.
madam meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
madam in Hindi
- polite term of address to a woman
- महोदया mahodyā, साहिबा sāhibā, श्रीमती śrīmtī, बानू bānū
madam in Tamil
- மேடம்
madam in Marathi
- मॅडम, मॅडमला
madam in Urdu
- polite term of address to a woman
- صاحِبَہ sāhiba, مَیڈَم maiḍam, بانُو bānū, مَہِیلا mahīlā
More languagesFewer languages
- madam in Bengali
- ঠাকরূণ ṭhakrun, শ্রীমতী srimoti
- madam in Telugu
- మేడమ్, మేడం, మేడమ్కి
- madam in Malayalam
- മാഡം
- madam in Kannada
- ಮೇಡಮ್, ಮೇಡಂ, ಮ್ಯಾಡಮ್
- madam in Punjabi
- ਮੈਡਮ
- madam in Gujarati
- મેડમ, મેડમિંગ, મેડમને
- madam in Odia
- ମ୍ଯ଼ାଡାମ୍
- madam in Nepali
- मेडम, म्याडाम, महोदया
- madam in Pashto
- بېګم begóm, مېرمن mermᶕn
- madam in Arabic
- سَيِّدَة sayyida, سَيِّدَتِي sayyidatī, أُسْتَاذَة ʔustāḏa, مَدَام madām
- madam in Malay
- puan
- madam in Indonesian
- nyonya, puan
- madam in Thai
- แหม่ม mɛ̀m, คุณนาย kun-naai, คุณหญิง kun-yǐng, แม่เล้า mɛ̂ɛ-láo
- madam in Vietnamese
- bà, chị, cô
- madam in Myanmar
- ဒေါ် dau, ခင်ဗျာ hkangbya, ရှင် hrang
Examples of madam in a sentence
- “Nothing, madam, but a tumbler of wine with a little water—thank you, madam.1857, Charles Reade, White Lies. A Story., volume I, London: Trübner & Co., […], page 276:
- I leaned on the hoe, in classic pose, and watched the cowbird try to bust his buttons in that agonizing split whistle which is his serenade to the madam.1951 April, John H. Day, “The Breath of April”, in Pennsylvania Game News, volume XXII, number 1, Pennsylvania Game Commission, page 27...
- “[…] This size, madam!” Certainly, the mesdames would not have been interested.1987, Navasilu, page 81:
- After two years, Madam X was busy enough to take on a partner: Madam Z, aged twenty.2012, Bridget O’Donnell, Inspector Minahan Makes a Stand: The Missing Girls of England, Picador, →ISBN:
Synonyms of madam
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of madam
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | madams |
| plural | mesdames |
| alternative form | madame |
| plural | Madams |
| plural | Mesdames |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | madams |
| present participle | madaming |
| past participle | madamed |
| past | madamed |
| present participle (rare) | madamming |
| past participle (rare) | madammed |
| past (rare) | madammed |
Origin of madam
From Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.
Words formed from madam
Phrases with madam
Words that rhyme with madam
Questions about madam
- What does madam mean?
- Madam means a polite form of address for a woman or lady.
- What is madam in Hindi?
- Madam in Hindi is महोदया (mahodyā), साहिबा (sāhibā), श्रीमती (śrīmtī). See Madam meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use madam in a sentence?
- “Nothing, madam, but a tumbler of wine with a little water—thank you, madam.
- What part of speech is madam?
- Madam can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce madam?
- Madam is pronounced /ˈmædəm/.
- What is the plural of madam?
- The plural of madam is madams.
Words near madam in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: madam (page history and authors); Madam (page history and authors); madam (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); madam (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); madam (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); madam (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); madam (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); madam (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); madam (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); madam (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); madam (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-madam.ogg.
Cite this entry: “madam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/madam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.