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mistress

/ˈmɪs.tɹɪs/noun, verb

mistress is spelled M-I-S-T-R-E-S-S: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 7.2 times per million words in written English, the 8,784th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mistress means “A woman, specifically one with great control, authority or ownership” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mistress is mistresses.

How many letters and syllables are in mistress?

Letters8: M-I-S-T-R-E-S-S
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing7.2 times per million words; the 8,784th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is mistress?

Mistress appears 7.2 times per million words in written English, the 8,784th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce mistress?

  • /ˈmɪs.tɹɪs/
  • /ˈmɪs.ʈrɪs/
  • /mɪsˈʈrɛs/

Mistress has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mistress.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-mistress.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-Mistress.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of mistress

  • mistresses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • mistressing participle, present
  • mistressed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does mistress mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A woman, specifically one with great control, authority or ownership.

    She was the mistress of the estate-mansion, and owned the horses.

  2. 2

    A female head of household.

  3. 3

    A female teacher.

    games mistress

  4. 4

    The other woman in an extramarital relationship, generally including sexual relations.

  5. 5

    A dominatrix.

  6. 6

    A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it.

  7. 7

    A woman regarded with love and devotion; a sweetheart.

  8. 8

    ScotlandA married woman; a wife.

verb

  1. 1

    rareOf a woman: to master; to learn or develop to a high degree of proficiency.

  2. 2

    To act or take the role of a mistress.

noun

as Mistress
  1. 1

    archaicUsed as the title of a married woman before her name. Now used only in the abbreviated form Mrs.

  2. 2

    Used as the title of a female dominant.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Mistress in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmaîtresse (woman of authority), amante (woman in extramarital relationship)
GermanFrau, Meisterin, Herrscherin (woman of authority), Mätresse, Liebhaberin (woman in extramarital relationship), Lehrerin (female teacher)
Portuguesesenhora (woman of authority), amante (woman in extramarital relationship), professora (female teacher), dominatriz (dominatrix)
Spanishdueña (woman of authority), querida, amante, barragana, manceba (woman in extramarital relationship), maestra (female teacher)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does mistress come from?

From Middle English maistresse, from Old French maistresse (whence French maîtresse), feminine of maistre (“master”). By surface analysis, mist(e)r + -ess.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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