Memsahib

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A married British woman living in colonial India, often with a connotation of authority or social status
2. Refers to a British woman, typically married, residing in India during colonial times, embodying a colonial lifestyle
3. Denotes a British colonial woman, especially a wife, who lived in India and was perceived with a sense of social prominence

Etymology: Memsahib is a blend of two Anglo-Indian terms of address. "Ma'am" is a shortened form of "madam," and "sahib" is an Urdu and Hindi word, borrowed from Arabic, meaning "lord" or "master" or, in colonial usage, a European gentleman. Put together, the phrase was how Indian servants addressed the wife of a British master, the female counterpart of "sahib." The word's meaning is built into its parts: "ma'am" marks the woman, and "sahib" marks the household's status that she shared with her husband. Within British India the term was used both as a form of address and to refer to such women, and it came to carry the social world of the colonial household, with its strict hierarchies of race and rank.