The story
- Mandarin · borrowed from太太
- English todaytai tai
Borrowed from Mandarin 太太 (tàitai, literally “great-great”), originally a high-ranking honorific title for the wives of officials during the Ming dynasty, later generalising to "madam", "Mrs.", or "wife" in modern Mandarin. In Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong English, the term underwent a semantic shift to specifically denote a wealthy married woman who enjoys a life of conspicuous leisure.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.