mevrouw

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch mevrouw.

Noun

mevrouw (plural mevrouws or mevrouwen)

1. A Dutchwoman, especially a Dutch or Afrikaner mistress.
   • 1917, Emilie Benson Knipe, Alden Arthur Knipe, A Maid of Old Manhattan, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page 24:

     You’re more like the English who think themselves vastly superior to us and mix only with Mevrouwen and Heeren.

   • 1948 August 27, The Freehold Transcript, volume LX, number 52, Freehold, N.J., page 4:

     The Dutch mynheeren and mevrouwen everywhere are busily engaged in decorating their clean cities and no doubt they will all lift their glasses at the same time and drink the health of their good Queen with that famous national drink Holland gin.

   • 1969, Elliott R[aymond] Thorpe, East Wind, Rain: The Intimate Account of an Intelligence Officer in the Pacific, 1939-49, Boston, Mass.: Gambit, →LCCN, page 34:

     Many of the mevrouwen were buxom souls whose lightness of foot in dancing never ceased to amaze me.

   • 2005, The Spectator, page 44:

     While gossiping and exchanging news, the mevrouwen are also poking, prodding, sniffing, scrutinising; weighing up options and recipes.

Dutch

Etymology

From late Middle Dutch mevrouwe. Equivalent to a univerbation of mijn (“my”) +‎ vrouw (“lady”), formed similar to English milady.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈvrɑu̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: me‧vrouw
• Rhymes: -ɑu̯

Noun

mevrouw f (plural mevrouwen, diminutive mevrouwtje n)

1. madam, miss

Descendants

• Afrikaans: mevrou

See also

• meneer, mijnheer