Mme

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mme"

English

Alternative forms

• Mme.

Etymology

Borrowed from French Mme.

Noun

Mme (plural Mmes)

1. Abbreviation of Madame.
   • 1922, Paul Gruyer, A Week at Versailles: The Town, the Palace, the Park, the Trianon Palaces, page 71:

     With them were the two royal children, Mmes Tantes (the elderly daughters of Louis XV), Mme Elisabeth, the Comic de Provence and his wife.

   • 1975 August 7, Listener and BBC Television Review, page 190, column 1:

     In The Bernadinis’ Terrace, gracefully translated by Joanna Kilmartin, Mme Laure Bernardini and her companion, Mme Thérèse, are very old: ‘immobilised, like ships that have run aground, they exist minimally.’

   • 1978, Nelly Wilson, Bernard-Lazare: Antisemitism and the Problems of Jewish Identity in Late Nineteenth-Century France, Cambridge University Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 318:

     After the latter’s death, Meyerson remained Mme Bernard-Lazare’s trusted friend.

   • 2014, George J. Pappas, Where the Tides Meet: A Romance of the Gaspé, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 162:

     Mr. Parker added more wood to the fire and then he and Mme Dubois went in, leaving Miss Merrie behind with her wide-brimmed sun hat. Mme DuBois and Mr. Parker were the first to return and soon had their heads together checking the food hamper and cooler.

References

• “Mme”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
• “Mme”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “Mme”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

French

Alternative forms

• Mᵐᵉ, Mme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.dam/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

M^me or Mme f (plural M^mes or Mmes)

1. abbreviation of Madame
   • 1959, Georges Simenon, Une Confidence de Maigret, Paris: Presses de la Cité, page 164:

     Je peux prouver que, la nuit où Mme Christine a été refroidie, je me trouvais peinard à Marseille, même qu'on trouvera mon nom en grosses lettres à l'affiche du Miramar...

     I can prove that, the night Madame Christine was bumped off, I was in Marseille; you'll even find my name in big letters on the bill at the Miramar...

See also

• M.
• M^dlle
• M^lle
• Mlle.
• M^r