In English, why is there a word for Mrs. and Ms. but only Mr. for men?

Question

Master was once a title used in England for men of fairly high rank, such as gentlemen, priests or scholars. It was later extended to all respectable men and was the forerunner of "Mister", which is derived from it.

Answer 1

This has to do with the perceived thinking that woman are only of value when married, and unmarried woman are not. In some cultures femals are still threatened, abused, even killed or not even born. With modern techniques all is possible, like abort a female unborn child.

In all european languages you have this phenomenon, that girls were only "honorable" as married woman. A german woman for example was only a women ("Frau") when married. A non-married woman was less ("Fraeulein").

It actually is extremely annoying when Americans still today think the term "Froline" (phonetic for Fraeulein) is appropriate. It is absolutely not, really, never!!!!

Romanic languages the same, the unmarried woman is a "little one" or "lesser one".

In the late 1970s we started to fight that, by the mid 80s we had made it common that all woman (married or not, age 14 or above) are called "Frau" only, not Fraeulein anymore.
But I can only speak for Germany.

I think in other countries that was not that controversial? Or were they just not ready yet?

I am aware that in the US they find it honorable to be called "Miss", wether they are married or not. I don't understand that really, maybe they have a completely different culture.

Maybe it is at least a good thing that they call all women the same, and married or not is no longer an issue. That is at least a start?!

Actually, in medieval times there WAS a title for the unmaried young noble man, alike as the unmarried young noble women. Not-noble (common) people had no titles at all, so they did not matter.

Through the centuries these titles shifted and changed their meanings. The meaning of the female title changed, and the male title dissappeared completely in our language. So it once was there, but with the times changing, all got mixed up.

Answer 2

Mistress. Very Shakespearean. Ms. is a united states invention. that's suggested Miz, the position the 'z' is like the double 'z' in the note buzz. bypass over signifies that the female is unmarried, Mrs. skill a lady is married. even as feminism develop into at its height, some women individuals objected to the actual shown actuality that once you say Mr. it does no longer reflect his marital status, so that they got here up with Ms., which does no longer element out no matter if the female is married or no longer.

Answer 3

married male : Mr. Mister X Single male Master X

Answer 4

Mrs. and Ms. to describe woman is old English usage.
Latest trend is unisex approach in each field; be it language or practical life.

Like:
Common toilets for both the genders.
Ms. (both married and unmarried women). Mrs. is obsolete.
Actor for both the genders. Actress is obsolete.

And so on....

Answer 5

Coincidentally, this also happens with Spanish. You have Señora for married women and Señorita for single women. However, for men it's always Señor.

Answer 6

Interesting. What would the other word be, if you could make it up? (a different one for single and married men). Hey wait, "master" is for a boy--did we forget that?

Answer 7

Mrs is for married Ms is for umarried and Mr is for both bc it just sounds right and theres no other word they could think of i guess.

Answer 8

Why does a one-way only ticket is more expensive than a return ticket?

Answer 9

Because men's status doesn't change when they get married.

Answer 10

Because men dont have their head so far up their *** that they need help remembering who they are.