Etymology

mister

mis·ter
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Today it means: Alternative spelling of Mister, especially when used as a form of address without a name. Full definition →

Middle English mister ← Anglo-Norman mester ← Latin misterium
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mister · noun, verb1

Unaccented variant of master, attested since the 15th century.

mister · noun, verb2

  1. Latin · derived frommysterium“mystery”
  2. Latin · derived fromministerium“ministry”
  3. Latin · derived frommisterium
  4. Anglo-Norman · derived frommester
  5. Middle English · inherited frommister
  6. English todaymister

From Middle English mister, myster, from Anglo-Norman mester, meister (et al.), from Latin misterium, a medieval conflation of Latin ministerium (“ministry”) with Latin mysterium (“mystery”). Doublet of métier.

mister · noun3

mist + -er

Mister · noun, proper noun4

See mister.

Words from the same roots

Latinministerium all →

ministryminstrelminstrelsy

Latinmysterium all →

mysterymysterium

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.