Fräulein

== German == === Etymology === Middle High German vrouwelīn (“mistress, young unmarried noblewoman”), equivalent to Frau +‎ -lein === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈfʁɔɪ̯laɪ̯n/ (standard) IPA(key): /ˈfʁɔlaɪ̯n/ (colloquially, especially northern and central Germany) Rhymes: -aɪ̯n === Noun === Fräulein n (strong, genitive Fräuleins, plural Fräuleins or Fräulein) diminutive of Frau (but not freely applicable) (dated, address for an unmarried woman) miss Guten Morgen, Fräulein Schmitz! ― Good morning, Miss Schmitz! miss, young woman (especially a shop assistant) Würden Sie mir kurz helfen, junges Fräulein! ― Would you help me please, miss! young lady, missy (said jokingly or rebukingly to a little girl) So, jetzt reicht's aber, Fräulein! ― All right, that's enough, young lady! (obsolete) A female animal or person ==== Usage notes ==== Fräulein as a formal address for an unmarried woman is now uncommon and considered disrespectful and sexist by some. Frau is the normal address for all women. As an informal address for a girl or young woman whose name one does not know, particularly a shop assistant, the word is still fairly common, though chiefly restricted to older speakers. It is generally advised that it be replaced by Frau in all instances. ==== Declension ==== ==== Descendants ==== → English: fraulein, Fraulein → Esperanto: fraŭlino → Georgian: ფრეილინა (preilina) → Livonian: freilen → Kashubian: frélëna → Russian: фро́йляйн (frójljajn), фре́йлина (frɛ́jlina) → Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic script: фра̏јла Latin script: frȁjla === Further reading === “Fräulein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache “Fräulein” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon “Fräulein” in Duden online Fräulein on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de