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Mrs. (American English) [1] or Mrs (British English; [2] [3] standard English pronunciation: / ˈ m ɪ s ɪ z / ⓘ MISS-iz) is a commonly used English honorific for women, usually for those who are married and who do not instead use another title or rank, such as Doctor, Professor, President, Dame, etc.
The titles Mrs, Miss, and Ms are abbreviations derived from Mistress. The term is no longer commonly used because of its connotative meaning: [citation needed] "mistress" is used to refer to a woman with whom a married man is having an affair. Madam or Ma'am (/ m æ m / in General American and either / m æ m /, / m ɑː m /, or / m ə m / in ...
The meanings of both Miss and Mrs underwent transformations over time. Historically, these titles did not solely indicate marital status. [2] Even after the adoption of Miss by many adult single women in 18th-century England, Mrs continued to signify social or business standing, rather than merely marital status, until at least the mid-19th century.
Concerning business, the Emily Post Institute states, "Ms. is the default form of address, unless you know positively that a woman wishes to be addressed as Mrs." [31] The American Heritage Book of English Usage states, "Using Ms. obviates the need for the guesswork involved in figuring out whether to address someone as Mrs. or Miss: you can't ...
The most common honorifics in modern English are usually placed immediately before a person's name. Honorifics used (both as style and as form of address) include, in the case of a man, "Mr." (irrespective of marital status), and, in the case of a woman, previously either of two depending on marital status: "Miss" if unmarried and "Mrs." if married, widowed, or divorced; more recently, a third ...
For example, if one is writing a business letter to a woman, "Ms." is acceptable. "Mrs." denotes an adult woman who is married. "Miss" can apply to specifically unmarried women, however, the term is being replaced more and more by "Ms." [citation needed] "Miss" can apply to an unmarried woman or more generally to a younger woman.
Goodwife (Scots: Guidwife), usually abbreviated Goody, was a polite form of address for women, formerly used how Mrs., Miss and Ms. are used today. Its male counterpart is Goodman. However, a woman addressed by this title was of a lesser social rank than a woman addressed as Mistress.
These distinctive titles replace the standard honorifics used in polite address, indicating gender and, for women, marital status; the common English forms are Mr., Ms., Mrs. and Miss. These honorifics are not normally considered as titles.