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maîtresse

Etymology and origin of the French word maîtresse

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1180, Fierabras
Ultimate origin
Latin (magis)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin magis
French mais
French désormais
Latin magister
French maître
French maîtresse

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mɛ.tʁɛs/[1]
  • IPA: /me.tʁɛs/[1]

Forms

maîtresse f (plural maîtresses, masculine maître)[1] Old French maistresse (12th century); maîtresse from the 16th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from French maître + -esse, the feminine of the word for master.[4][1][2] The masculine comes from Latin magister (“chief, master”), probably derived from magis (“more”).[5][6] Littré notes a 12th-century maistriere for a woman with whom one has a love affair.[7]

Cognate with Old Occitan maistra, Spanish maestra, Portuguese mestra and Italian maestra.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1180, in Fierabras, it means a governess or duenna.[4][7]

Semantic evolution

As the feminine of maître it took the corresponding senses, the mistress of a house or of servants, a schoolmistress, a woman who rules something.[2][8][4] In the 13th century it named the girl or woman one loves, so called because of the power she has over the man who loves her, and in 1357 the woman courted with a view to marriage, as in Corneille's Il faut venger un père et perdre une maîtresse.[4][8] Brantôme notes that the word was not used in this sense in the time of Jean de Saintré.[7]

From Molière (1660) it means a woman who has a sexual relationship with a man outside marriage, the sense that has prevailed.[4][8] Used as an adjective it means principal: idée maîtresse (1580), carte maîtresse.[5][8]

Timeline

  • 12th century – Maistresse.[2][3]
  • c. 1180 – A governess, in Fierabras.[4]
  • 13th century – The woman one loves, in Guillaume le Vinier.[4]
  • 1357 – A woman courted for marriage.[4]
  • 1580 – Idée maîtresse.[5]
  • 1660 – Molière: a lover outside marriage.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A woman who has authority: maîtresse de maison, the hostess or lady of the house.[2][1]
  2. A female teacher in a primary school: maîtresse d'école.[1][2]
  3. A mistress, a woman in a sexual relationship with a man to whom she is not married.[8][1]
  4. (archaic) The woman one loves and courts; a sweetheart.[8][4]
  5. Être maîtresse de soi: to be in control of oneself.[8]

Adjective

  1. Principal, chief: idée maîtresse, poutre maîtresse; at cards, carte maîtresse, the winning card.[5][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Maîtresse.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/ma%C3%AEtresse. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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