Etymology of the English word mistress
the English word
mistressderived from the Old French word
maistressederived from the Old French word
maistrederived from the Late Latin word
magister (teacher, tutor, master)
derived from the Latin word
magis (bigger; greater)
derived from the Latin word
magnus (large; full, complete, utter; great; mighty; distinguished; large, great, big)
derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*meg- (great)
Date
The earliest known usage of mistress in English dates from the 14th century.
Derivations in English
Miss,
headmistress,
schoolmistress,
taskmistress,
toastmistress,
missis,
missusCognates
Dutch
maîtresse, German
Mätresse, Swedish
mätressUsage
Word found in Modern English
