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Sir is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages.Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part of "Monsieur", with the equivalent "My Lord" in English.
French honorifics are based on the wide use of Madame for women and Monsieur for men. Social. Monsieur" (M.) for a man, The plural is Messieurs (MM. for short).
Monsieur (/ m ə ˈ s j ɜːr / mə-SYUR; French: ⓘ; pl. Messieurs / ˈ m ɛ s ər z, m eɪ ˈ s j ɜːr (z)/ MESS-ərz, may-SYUR(Z); French: ⓘ; 1512, from Middle French mon sieur, literally "my lord" [1]) is an honorific title that was used to refer to or address the eldest living brother of the king in the French royal court.
Monsieur, for a male (etymologically, monsieur means "my lord", cf. English "sir"); pronounced ; plural: messieurs, pronounced ; abbreviation: singular M.; plural: MM.. The singular form M r is very often found, but is considered incorrect by purists, although it appears (together with its rare plural form M rs) in some dictionaries.
In the English language, an honorific is a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy or respect. These can be titles prefixing a person's name, e.g.: Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Mx, Sir, Dame, Dr, Cllr, Lady, or Lord, or other titles or positions that can appear as a form of address without the person's name, as in Mr President, General, Captain, Father, Doctor, or Earl.
The Very Reverend (abbreviation The Very Rev.), oral address Mr./Madam Dean or Mr./Madam Provost, as appropriate, or Very Reverend Sir/Madam – Anglican deans and provosts of cathedrals, the deans of Westminster Abbey and St George's Chapel, Windsor, and, for historical reasons, a few parish priests, such as the Dean of Bocking.
Several terms have been abbreviated in the tables below. The forms used in the table are given first, followed by alternative acceptable abbreviations in parentheses. The punctuation of each abbreviation depends on the source. For example, the punctuation of "The Rt Hon" is not consistent throughout sources.
The modern plural form is Misters [citation needed], although its usual formal abbreviation Messrs(.) [note 1] derives from use of the French title messieurs in the 18th century. [2] [5] Messieurs is the plural of monsieur (originally mon sieur, "my lord"), formed by declining both of its constituent parts separately. [5]