We don’t even think much about the many words that are spoken in our daily lives. We skip many words when we hear or say them. There is one such word that is part of our formal and informal lives. Since childhood, we have used it in writing and speech, but we do not know its full extent or its meaning. Usually, when writing a name in English, we use the adjective Mr for men and Ms or Mrs for women. Have you ever wondered why this is?
According to reports, in the 1500s, the word mister was used as a prestigious title in English. Its short form is Mr and applies to both unmarried and married men. On the other hand, the word miss was used to refer to women. The epithet Ms is used for unmarried women- and Mrs when she is married, or it can also depend on what she prefers.
Reports suggest that earlier men were referred to as Mister, while women were referred to as Mistress, whether married or unmarried. Nowadays, the term mistress is not used in the same way because it might refer to a woman in a relationship with a married man.
Miss is used for young or unmarried women, whereas Mrs is a short version of Missus, which is used by married women. As per reports, the short form Ms was introduced in the 1950s for women to avoid being identified by their marital status, and it gained popularity in the 1970s.
Nowadays, a woman can be referred to simply as Ms without taking into account her marital status. However, it is always best to refer to a woman by Ms to avoid assumptions and misunderstandings.
Mrs, though most commonly used by married women, widows and divorced women also prefer to use it because they wish to maintain the title. They could feel insulted if you call them Ms. As mentioned earlier, the full form of Mrs is missus, which indicates a married woman; however, the ‘r’ in the abbreviation represents the original word, mistress.
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