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mister

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English has three words spelled mister: an obsolete noun meaning a craft or a need, borrowed from French in the 13th century; the title of a man, a weakened form of master from the 16th century; and a 20th-century name for a spraying device, formed from mist.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈmɪstə/[4]
  • US: /ˈmɪstəɹ/[4]

mister1 craft, trade; need

Etymology

The noun meaning a craft or a need is borrowed from Anglo-Norman mester, also mestier and mister, with its Old French counterpart mestier,[1][5][3][2] the source of French métier and so of English métier.[1][5][2] The French word comes from Medieval Latin misterium,[1] a contracted Romance form of Latin ministerium;[3][5] the OED compares Old Occitan mestier, Catalan mester, Spanish mester, Portuguese mester and Italian mestiere.[1] The same Latin source lies behind mystery in its old sense of a craft or guild.[3][5] Some Anglo-Norman and Old French spellings were influenced by maistre, master, and the OED thinks a similar influence acted in English; metre shows that the stress was at first on the second syllable, moving to the first probably under the influence of mister2.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person's office, duty or business: about 1225, in Sawles Warde.[1] In Anglo-Norman the word is recorded from the early 12th century, already with the senses of task, occupation, trade, skill and need.[6]

Semantic evolution

Middle English used it for an employment or practice and for a trade or craft, a man of mister being a craftsman (from about 1225 until 1613);[1][5] for skill in a profession (1390–1572);[1] and for need or necessity from about 1300, as in to have mister of something, to need it, and mister is, it is necessary, used until 1722.[1][5] These phrases follow French aver mestier and estre mestier.[1] A related verb mister, to be necessary or to need, was chiefly Scots and was used from 1412 into the 19th century.[1][5] From the sense of a trade came that of a kind or sort, recorded from before 1325 and later found mainly in questions such as what mister man?;[1][2] Chaucer has "what mister men ye been", and Spenser "what mister wight", which Johnson (1755) explained as "what kind of".[7][8] In the 19th century what mister? was still said in Yorkshire for "what sort?", and in Scots mister meant want or necessity, as in the 1641 proverb "Mister makes man of craft".[7][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1225 – a person's office or duty; an occupation; a trade or craft.[1]
  • c. 1300 – need, want, especially in to have mister of.[1]
  • before 1325 – a kind or sort, later in what mister …?.[1]
  • 1390 – skill in a profession (obsolete by 1572).[1]
  • 1412 – the verb, to be necessary (chiefly Scots).[1][5]
  • 1613 – last record of the sense "trade, craft".[1]
  • 1722 – last record of mister is, it is necessary.[1]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines what mister as "what kind of".[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (archaic) A kind or sort, now only in questions such as what mister …? and in Yorkshire dialect.[2][1][7]
  2. (archaic, chiefly Scottish) Need or want; a case of need.[2][7][1]
  3. (obsolete, c. 1225–1613) A trade or craft; an occupation.[1][5]
  4. (obsolete, c. 1225–1580) A person's office, duty or function.[1][5]

mister2 title for a man

Etymology

The title is a weakened form from English master,[1][9][5][3][10][11][12] which arose because the word was unstressed before a name.[5][3][13] The OED explains that until the late 17th century the title was often written in full as master but, said quickly before a name, had its first vowel altered; the abbreviated spelling “Mr” became usual for this use alone, so that by the early 18th century master and “Mr” were felt as separate words, mister being only an occasional spelling of the pronunciation of “Mr”.[1] Barnhart records the abbreviation from 1447–48.[14][15] Skeat put the change down to the influence of the older mistress.[16] The noun master itself goes back to Old English magister and Old French maistre, both from Latin magister.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A title of courtesy put before the name of a man with no higher title: 1523, in accounts of Saint John's Hospital, Canterbury.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the title kept the form of master but not its meaning.[17] From 1672 it formed humorous or mocking titles,[1] and by itself, as a form of address to a man whose name is unknown, it is recorded from 1734, in Fielding,[1] or from 1760 according to Etymonline, often with a touch of rudeness.[17] Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary (1895), which found this use confined almost entirely to the lower classes.[17] Green's Dictionary of Slang has it as an American form of address to a stranger from 1864.[18] The verb, to address a man as "mister", appears in 1742, in Fielding's Joseph Andrews.[1][15] Later uses include Mister Mate for the mate of a ship (1897, in Conrad) and the mister for a husband (1931).[1] In Scotland, Northumberland and Warwickshire it was a term of address like sir, used by a superior to an inferior or in reproof.[7] Collins records its official use in the navy for warrant officers and the officers of a merchant ship, and in Britain for surgeons.[12]

Timeline

  • 1447–48 – the abbreviation Mr.[15]
  • 1523 – title of courtesy before a man's name.[1][2]
  • 1672 – in humorous or mocking titles.[1]
  • 1734 – form of address to a man whose name is not known.[1]
  • 1742 – the verb, to call someone mister.[1][15]
  • 1897 – Mister Mate, the mate of a ship.[1]
  • 1931 – the mister, a husband.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An informal form of address to a man, especially one whose name is not known: Hey, mister, you dropped your wallet.[12][2][1]
  2. The written-out form of the title Mr, put before a man's name.[12][1][2]
  3. In the navy, the form of address for warrant officers and for officers of a merchant ship other than the captain.[12][1]
  4. (Britain) The form of address for a surgeon.[12]

Verb

  1. To address or speak of someone as "mister".[2][1][12]

mister3 spraying device

Etymology

The spraying device is formed from English mist + -er.[19][2][20] mist is from Old English mist.[17][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A device for spraying a mist: 1973.[19][2]

Timeline

  • 1973 – a device for spraying mist.[19][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A device that sprays a fine mist of water or another liquid, as on houseplants: She watered the ferns with a mister.[2][19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  7. ^ a b c d e Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  16. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  17. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  18. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  19. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  20. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House