the.com/frau
German for 'Mrs.' — also the first word every language app teaches you to never actually use alone.
means A German word for 'woman' or 'wife,' and the standard title (like 'Mrs.') used before a married or adult woman's name.
from From Old High German 'frouwa,' meaning 'lady' or 'mistress' — originally the feminine form tied to a word for 'lord' (compare 'Frohn-' roots meaning master). It's a cousin of English 'frow,' an old and now-archaic term for a woman, and distantly related to Norse 'Freyja,' the goddess's name, which carries the same 'lady' sense.
- literal meaning
- woman, or wife, context decides
- formal use
- paired with surname, never first name
- old split
- frau versus fraulein died out by the 1970s
- feminist footnote
- fraulein scrapped for implying unmarried women were lesser