# monsieur
## English
### Etymology

From French monsieur. Doublet of monseigneur and monsignor.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /məˈsjʊə(ɹ)/, /məˈsjɜː(ɹ)/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Noun

monsieur (plural monsieurs or messieurs)
* (dated) A man, especially a French gentleman.
** 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Cabin”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 589:Pass round the decanters; glad to see ye; fill up, monsieurs!

#### Related terms

* croque-monsieur

### Anagrams

* inermous

## French
### Etymology

From mon (“my”) + sieur, from the oblique case of Old French sire (cf. also seignor), ultimately from Latin senior. The first syllable has been reduced through frequent use. Loss of word-final /r/ was common in Early Modern French, but failed to establish itself except in (most) words in -er. Monsieur and gars are two relics of this pronunciation habit.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mə.sjø/, (archaic, sometimes jocular) /mɔ.sjø/, (obsolete) /mɔ̃.sjø/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

monsieur m (plural messieurs)
* mister, sir (a title or form of address for a man, used with or without the name in direct or third-person address)
* gentleman
    Il y a un monsieur pour vous voir.There's a gentleman here to see you.

#### Usage notes

* A custom held that it was impolite to use Monsieur with a family name (e.g. Monsieur Dupont) in direct address from a hierarchical inferior to a superior, unless it was needed to disambiguate. Instead, one should simply address the person as Monsieur. This custom may now be obsolete.
* Unlike in English, Monsieur is frequently used without a name or article as a polite reference to a man in the third person, notably in official registers:
    Monsieur s’est présenté à l’urgence à 18 h 12.The/This gentleman/The patient/Mr. [name] attended the emergency room at 6:12 p.m.
* Additionally, Monsieur (and Madame) are sometimes used in conjunction with titles/roles in formal registers.
    Monsieur le Directeur fera une annoncement à 13h30.The director will be making a presentation at 3:30pm.
    Madame le Président a prononcé un discours en lequel elle a dit que la guerre n’est pas juste.The president has made a speech in which she said that the war is unjust.
* Although un/le monsieur is used as a common noun to mean "a/the gentleman", using the word une/la madame to mean "a/the lady" is considered childish language. Instead, une/la dame is used.

#### Synonyms

* M.
* M$^r$

#### Derived terms

* mesdames et messieurs
* Monsieur Durand
* monsieur je-sais-tout
* Monsieur Propre

#### Related terms

* monseigneur
* sieur
* sire

#### Descendants

(Some of these may be derived from Middle French.)
* Saint Dominican Creole French: mouché
** Haitian Creole: mesye, msye
* → English: monsieur
* → Fula: musel
* → Hausa: mùshê
* → Ladino: musyu
* → Ottoman Turkish: موسیو (mösyö), միւսիւ (müsü) — Armeno-Turkish
** Turkish: mösyö
** → Armenian: միւսիւ (miwsiw)
* → Romanian: musiu
* → Russian: месье́ (mesʹjé), мсьё (msʹjo)
* → Vietnamese: me-xừ

#### See also

* madame
* mademoiselle
* monseigneur

### Further reading

* “monsieur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* muerions
* remuions