mestressa

Catalan

Etymology

From mestre (“master”) +‎ -essa (“-ess”, feminine noun-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [məsˈtɾe̞.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [məsˈtɾə.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [məsˈtɾɛ.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [mesˈtɾe.sa]
• Rhymes: -ɛsa
• Hyphenation: mes‧tres‧sa

Noun

mestressa f (plural mestresses, masculine mestre, masculine plural mestres)

1. female landowner, especially in the sense of someone with control over tenants, production etc.
2. (obsolete) wife of a landlord
3. mistress
4. schoolmistress
5. (informal) term of address to a young woman who is not known to the speaker, especially to catch attention

Derived terms

• mestressa de casa
• mestressejar

Further reading

• “mestressa”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007