Madam or madame?
madam is a noun meaning “The mistress of a household”; madame is a noun meaning “Alternative form of madam”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) madame is about 1.6 times as common as madam.
What is the difference between madam and madame?
| madam | madame | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | A polite form of address for a woman or lady The mistress of a household To address as "madam" | A title equivalent to Mrs. or Ms., used for French-speaking women and (by custom) certain other individuals. It is abbreviated as Mme |
| Example | Mrs Grey wondered if the outfit she was trying on made her look fat. The sales assistant just said, “It suits you, madam” | The Queen welcomed President and Madame De Gaulle |
| Forms | madams, mesdames | madames, mesdames |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmædəm/ [ˈmædəm] ~ [ˈmædm̩] /mɐˈdam/ | /məˈdæm/ /məˈdɑːm/ /ˈmæ.dəm/ |
| In writing | 3.9 times per million words | 6.3 times per million words |
Sources: madam and madame in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of madam and madame
madam
- 1
A polite form of address for a woman or lady
Mrs Grey wondered if the outfit she was trying on made her look fat. The sales assistant just said, “It suits you, madam”
- 2
To address as "madam"
- 3
Alternative letter-case form of madam
- 4
The mistress of a household
- 5
A polite form of address and title, abbreviated Mdm, used before a (usually middle-aged) adult or elderly woman's surname, full name or given name if she does not have a family name
- 6
colloquialA conceited or quarrelsome girl
Selina kept pushing and shoving during musical chairs. The nursery school teacher said she was a bad-tempered little madam
- 7
slangA woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for rich and important clients
After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam
- 8
IndiaderogatoryslangA hated or contemptuous woman; used as a general term of abuse
madame
- 1
Alternative form of madam
- 2
Alternative letter-case form of madame
- 3
A title equivalent to Mrs. or Ms., used for French-speaking women and (by custom) certain other individuals. It is abbreviated as Mme
The Queen welcomed President and Madame De Gaulle
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, madam or madame?
madam appears 3.9 times per million words; madame 6.3 times per million words.
madam 3.9 times per million wordsmadame 6.3 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search madam vs madame?
“madam vs madame” is searched about 3,600 times a month on Google and 80 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“madame vs madam”, “madam or madame”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.