# Miss



## amikama

Does your language have an equivalent title of "miss" (a title used before names of unmarried women, as in "Miss Jane Doe")?


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## Outsider

We used to say *menina*, but nowadays that sounds old-fashioned, and people normally just say *senhora* (lady/Mrs.)
There was also *senhorita*, but that one is so old-fashioned that I never even learned how it was supposed to be used.


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## vince

It would also be interesting to know in which countries the term is outdated.


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## linguist786

In Zambia, they say donna (pronounced do-naa) - used for both Miss and Mrs. (This is actually in the language of *Niyanja*)

In *French*, as we all probably know, madamoiselle mademoiselle (abbr: Mlle) 
In *German*, Fräulein

I don't think there's a specific one in Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati (apart from saying "Miss" in an Indian accent!) but we can also put "-ji" as a suffix which kind of shows respect.

(Thanks Chazzwozzer for spotting typo)


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## Pivra

linguist786 said:
			
		

> In Zambia, they say donna (pronounced do-naa) - used for both Miss and Mrs. (This is actually in the language of *Niyanja*)
> 
> In *French*, as we all probably know, madamoiselle
> 
> In *German*, Fräulein
> 
> I don't think there's a specific one in Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati (apart from saying "Miss" in an Indian accent!) but we can also put "-ji" as a suffix which kind of shows respect.


 
 How about Sree and Sreemati??  (sorry about the vowels)


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## Chazzwozzer

In *Turkish*, we say _*B**ayan *_for both married and unmarried women, and it's* Signorina* (_Sig.na_) in Italian.


			
				linguist786 said:
			
		

> In *French*, as we all probably know, madamoiselle


 Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't it _Mad*e*moiselle_ which is abbreviated as _Mlle?_


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## linguist786

Chazzwozzer said:
			
		

> In *Turkish*, we say _*B**ayan *_and it's* Signorina* (_Sig.na_) in Italian.
> Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't it _Mad*e*moiselle_ which is abbreviated as _Mlle?_


Oh yes, sorry. Silly error.


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## linguist786

Pivra said:
			
		

> How about Sree and Sreemati?? (sorry about the vowels)


Oh yes.. I've heard something like that.. Things like "Sri Dasam Granth Sahib" which sort of means "Respected Mr Dasam Granth". 

I'm not sure about it though since I don't live in India.. I always thought they just call them "Miss .. (whatever)". (in schools I mean)

Our Indian natives should look at this..


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## Rogo

Norwegian:

MRS: Fru
MISS: Frøken
MR: Herr

None of these are used much anymore. Frøken went first, probably because it was considered unfair towards women that there should be a distinction between married and unmarried, without the same distinction applying to men. Later, people stopped marrying altogether, and now, apart from very formal occasions, we only use our full names, without prefixes.

Frøken is still used by pupils to adress female teachers, regardless of marital status.


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## elroy

Arabic: أنسة (_aanisa_) - not used too often, at least in Palestinian Arabic.


			
				linguist786 said:
			
		

> In *German*, Fräulein


Achtung!    I would avoid using this word since it is usually interpreted as pejorative or condescending.


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## midismilex

amikama said:
			
		

> Do your language have an equivalent title of "miss" (a title used before names of unmarried women, as in "Miss Jane Doe")?


 
As for an equivalent TITLE of "miss", we generally say "小姐"。

But if it is defined in "a title used before names of UNMARRIED women", wow~ we have many other terms in ancient articles, in our nowadays modern life and in the office or something concerned her age.


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## Areté

Exactly the same case in Swedish as in Norwegian;

Miss = fröken
Mrs = fru
Mr = herr

We don't use these words any longer, although female teachers may be addressed "fröken", and "fru" is also the word for wife.


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## Etcetera

In Russia, there's no exact equivalent to the English 'miss'. 
If you're addressing an unknown girl, you can say to her 'devushka' (='girl') or 'baryshnya'. 
In informal contexts, you can also use 'seghorita', 'mademoiselle', 'signorina' - but it sounds rather humorous.


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## shaloo

> linguist786
> 
> I don't think there's a specific one in Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati (apart from saying "Miss" in an Indian accent!) but we can also put "-ji" as a suffix which kind of shows respect.





> Pivra
> 
> How about Sree and Sreemati?? (sorry about the vowels)


 


> linguist786
> Our Indian natives should look at this..


Hi there!
In India: *Sree* = Mr. .........*Sreemati *= Mrs. ..........*Kumari *= Miss

This would be in *Hindi, Telugu *and* Kannada*.
Im not quite sure about other Indian Languages.

Shaloo.


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## badgrammar

Chazzwozzer said:
			
		

> In *Turkish*, we say _*B**ayan *_and it's* Signorina* (_Sig.na_) in Italian.
> Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't it _Mad*e*moiselle_ which is abbreviated as _Mlle?_



And what about "hanim"?  I thought that could be used for ladies, whether or not they are married.  Or does Bayan specify that she is unmarried?


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## kanojo_

Well, in Slovenia we say:

Mr- Gospod
Miss- Gospodična
Mrs- Gospa


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## robbie_SWE

In Romanian: 

Miss: *domnisoara/demoazela/madmoazela* (the first is mostly used)
Mrs: *doamna/dama/cucoana/chera/signora*
Mr: *domn/cucon/chir/signor*

Most of these words come from Greek and Italian, but have been taken in the Romanian language and used. 

 robbie


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## amikama

No equivalent in Hebrew. But in the media (books, movies, TV programs etc.) translated into Hebrew you may find *מיס* (transliteration of "miss") or *העלמה* (_ha-'alma_, literally "the maiden"/"the young woman"). The latter is less common.


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## Confused Linguist

Kumari (Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali)


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## Flaminius

Japanese:
No equivalent of Miss exists in the language.  Most titles are used equally to men and women, according to social prestige.  There are some titles like -chan that could, in contexts, have a derogatory nuance when used for men.  But overall, little gender is coded in Japanese titles.


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## claudine2006

In Italian it's signorina, but it's not used anymore. 
It's not polite because it makes a difference between a married woman and an unmarried one. So it's ok only if you use it for a young girl.


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## CarlosPerezMartinez

In Spanish: Señorita (abbreviated as: Srta.)

Then you have: Mr. Señor. Sr.
                      Mrs. Señora. Sra.
                      Miss. Señorita. Srta.


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## Chazzwozzer

badgrammar said:
			
		

> And what about "hanim"?  I thought that could be used for ladies, whether or not they are married.  Or does Bayan specify that she is unmarried?


My bad, sorry.  I've just edited my post and pointed out that it's a general term, not a specific one for unmarried women. Thanks for spotting that.

Back in the early years of the republic, _bay_ and _bayan_ were introduced by Turkish Language Council in place of _madam_ (Fr. madame) and _mösyö _(Fr. monsieure) - just to get rid of the borrowed words for the purpose of making Turkish a pure language.

Well, it didn't really catch on. Later on, the word _sayın _came into being. It refers to both men and women and goes before the names or surnames. People liked the new word and started using it instead. There's one theory that why so many people prefered _sayın _instead of other gender specifying words is that because Turkish is not a sexist language.

So today, _sayın_ which can be abbreviated as _Sn. _is widely used. _Bay_ and _bayan _haven't completely fallen into disuse, though. They are still used in some very formal circumstances. (In everyday speech, a woman whose name is not known can be called as _bayan_.)

About _hanım_ - yes, it's pretty much like _bayan_. But there are some things to keep in mind: 1) Bayan goes before the names and surnames whereas _hanım_ goes after. 2) _Bayan_ is much more formal than _hanım_.

Oh, and equivalent for _bay _is _bey_. The differences between _bayan_ and _hanım _are the same for _bay_ and _bey_. I mean, _bay_ goes before the names whereas _bey_ goes after and _bay_ is more formal than _bey.
_
Hope it's been informative. Good luck with your Turkish studies, badgrammar.


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## Maja

In Serbian we say:
MISS: *Gospođica* *(госпођица)*
MRS: *Gospođa (госпођа)
*MR:  *Gospodin* *(господин)*

But they are not  used as much, except in formal occasions. We usually use only names, without any  prefixes. 
   During the Communist era everyone had to be addressed as Drug  (if male) /  Drugarica (if female) meaning "comrade".  Now it is  considered rude and it is out of use, but Mr., Miss and Mrs. have not replaced  it in full. For it is really unnatural to address some old lady as Miss just  because she is not married. In situations when you cannot know smo's marital  status, like in a bus etc. the distinction between Miss and Mrs. is based on age  and so a young woman would be addressed as "Miss" or "young Lady" or just  plainly "girl" --> especially if the speaker is young himself/herself, and  any woman in her middle ages would be addressed as "Mrs.". 
In school we use  the professional title before names, such as professor and teacher.


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## panjabigator

Linguist, the Sri Dasam Granth Sahib is the Holy Book composed by the Sikh's Tenth Guru (Tenth Master) Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.  

For miss, I would say the following:  Srimati, Kumaari, Begam (maybe), Bibi (used with Panjabi's).


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## avalon2004

*Δεσποινίς [dhespinís] *or *δεσποινίδα [dhespinídha] *are the Greek equivalents of *Miss*, but from my experience they aren't used very often. The general term *κυρία [kiría]* is therefore preferable in most circumstances when talking to a woman.


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## shaloo

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Linguist, the Sri Dasam Granth Sahib is the Holy Book composed by the Sikh's Tenth Guru (Tenth Master) Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
> 
> For miss, I would say the following: *Srimati*, Kumaari, Begam (maybe), Bibi (used with Panjabi's).


 
No Sean, Srimati is used *only* for married women.And yeah, Kumaari is for unmarried women.

Shaloo


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## reiziger

In Dutch, there's no specification. It's just

*Mrs*./*Miss*: Mevrouw
*Mr*.: Meneer

There used to be an older word, juffrouw, (to be used for 'miss') which is now seen as very old-fashioned and maybe a little impolite.


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## Pivra

Confused Linguist said:
			
		

> Kumari (Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali)


 
Thai, Kumari = daughter


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## panjabigator

I see...thanks shaloo!


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## shaloo

No problem Sean! You are welcome


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> Achtung!  I would avoid using this word since it is usually interpreted as pejorative or condescending.


 
Well, not necessarily. The word "Fräulein" is used for "miss", indeed, but most people prefer "Frau" (mistress), whether or not the woman is married.


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## Aldin

In Bosnian

Gospođa=Mrs.
Gospdin=Mr.
Gospođica=Miss
Dama=Lady


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## Chriszinho85

In Tagalog:

Miss:  binibini

I don't think this is used very much.  You would most likely hear people say "miss."  The "i" would be pronounced like "ee" in "see."


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## kusurija

In Czech:
slečna (it is oblique and normally used)
Sometimes(rarely) is in use "miska" as talc to English Miss (e.g. Miss World). I personally don't like this word - it isn't Czech word.

In Lithuanian:
panelė (it sounds somewhat oldish, but not awfully - it is in use. Sometimes it may sound little ironic, if used to aged woman)

In _Lithuanian_ there is specific garmmar tool to distinguish between unmarried (not yet) and married (ever; anytime (maybe divorced)) woman in suffixes on family name: unmarried: -aitė, -ytė, -utė, -ūtė; married: -ienė. E.g.:

Jonaitis (masculine - doesn't distinguish married or not - further (M))
Jonaitytė not yet married(even if aged)(f)
Jonaitienė married (husband is Jonaitis)(F)
Petrikas (M)
Petrikaitė (f)
Petrikienė (F)
Vitkus (M)
Vitkutė (f)
Vitkienė (F)
...
...
Sometimes some Lithuanian women doesn't want to be distinguished married or unmarried is she. So in such cases chooses among: neutral ending -ė (Jonaitė, Petrikė, Vitkė) - but it isn't very popular (only on these surnames, where it sounds better, then in these examples) or chooses masculine type surname (Jonaitis, Petrikas, Vitkus).

I don't know, if in any other language exists such distinguising between unmarried and married women by surnames. I hope someone will answer this question?


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## sokol

elroy said:


> linguist786 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In *German*, Fräulein
> 
> 
> 
> Achtung!  I would avoid using this word since it is usually interpreted as pejorative or condescending./quote]Well, not necessarily. The word "Fräulein" is used for "miss", indeed, but most people prefer "Frau" (mistress), whether or not the woman is married.
Click to expand...

Well, not exactly.

First and foremost - a similar development like in Italian happened in German:


claudine2006 said:


> In Italian it's signorina, but it's not used anymore.
> It's not polite because it makes a difference between a married woman and an unmarried one. So it's ok only if you use it for a young girl.


Nowadays, "Fräulein" is almost never used to make a distinction between "married" and "unmarried" - the use of "Fräulein" in this sense even has become so very much marked that the old spinster insisting on being called "Fräulein XY" has become a running gag: because only older people ever would insist on that distinction "Fräulein = unmarried woman".

If "Fräulein" is used at all then usually it refers to a young woman, or also to address for example a shopkeeper whose name you do not know; you'd say for example "Fräulein, könnten Sie mir bitte helfen?" when asking for help in a shop. But that would sound weird if the lady concerned is not young-ish.
So even in this context it is not easy for non-natives to learn when "Fräulein" is acceptable and when not.

Further, in Austria the use of "Fräulein" in official documents even has been ruled out long ago: as a consequence you will never see "Fräulein" used in official documents, but the same also goes for business correspondence - you never ever should use "Fräulein" in them.

So basically, for German, "Fräulein" for the most part has been replaced by "Frau", and even though "Fräulein" still is frequently used by native speakers it should be handled with great care by learners of German.


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## panjabigator

What about the word "panyenka" in Polish?  I appologize for the spelling, as I don't know any Polish orthography.


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## sokol

panjabigator said:


> What about the word "panyenka" in Polish?  I appologize for the spelling, as I don't know any Polish orthography.


"Panienka" it is, in Polish orthography, and I think this also rather means "(young) girl" than "miss"*) - and my Polish dictionary even suggests that it is pejorative and even could be used meaning "hooker".

*) That is, that the meaning "miss" no longer is valid.


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## ajo fresco

I don't hear as many people using "Miss" as when I was growing up.  Some people prefer to use the marriage-neutral "Ms." (pronounced "mizz").

However, over the last 5 years or so (maybe longer, but I haven't been paying much attention ) I've noticed more and more children are being taught to address adult women as "Miss + first name" -- whether they're married or not -- as a way of showing respect.

For example, a kindergarten teacher named Mary Smith is called "Miss Mary"; when I was in school, she would've been called "Mrs. Smith."

Does this happen in your part of world?


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## akaAJ

Yiddish:

I looked in Uriel Weinreich's painfully prescriptive Yiddish-English dictionary to see what he says.  He first gives the German-derived forms (I use the YKUF standard for transliteration, which, like pinyin, is not meant to accommodate non-speakers):

  her = mister
  froy = mrs.
  fraylin = miss (ay as in English fry or buy.
  (my dialect would be freylin, ey as in hey, or, for that matter, hay.)

I have little experience with these, as the strangers I would be introduced to were mainly relatives, introduced by relation.  I have never heard "her" used in my life, "froy" rarely ("ma-dam' " more often), "freylin" on occasion.  Conceivably these forms are used in the Orthodox, Khsidish, communities.

Weinreich adds that "mister" is in use;  I have never heard it, except ironically.

I suspect that Yiddish adapted to the country of residence; say "Pan" in Polish, etc.

Weinreich grudgingly adds that "in some circles" khaver and khaverte (friend, comrade) are used for men and women.  In union (FR syndicat) circles these are used as the equvalents of Brother (Jones) and Sister (Smith).  In more left-wing circles it was, of course, comrade.

My father's friends would address each other by their given or their family names, more or less at random:  "Azoy, Goldshteyn, vos makhstu" (So, how are you, Goldstein?), in the familiar form, or "... vos makht ir"---jokingly to a friend, the normal form in the plural, and occasionally formally with a boss (second person plural, as French "vous", unlike German "Sie" = Spanish "ustedes").

Lastly, a sort of "Mister" was the polite form of address for a man: "Reb", with either a given name (Reb Moyshe) or a family name (Reb Vaynshtein).  This would have been current in Orthodox groups;  for us it was simply a joshing style to add a bit of friendly levity to a greeting.


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## Hakro

Finnish:

 Miss = neiti, abbr. nti
 Mrs. = rouva, abbr. rva
 Mr. = herra, abbr. hra

Herra and rouva are loan words from Swedish but neiti is originally a Finnish word meaning a young woman.

All of these are nowadays less and less used as titles of persons. Sometimes people think that they are lightly offensive.


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, _fraŭlino._


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## la_machy

En México,
miss=señorita
ej. "Señorita Valdez" ..."Srita. Valdez"

Saludos


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