Master is an English honorific for boys and young men.

Etymology

''Master'' was used in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for men of some rank, especially "free masters" of a trade

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...

and by any manual worker or servant employee addressing his employer (his master), but also generally by those lower in status to gentlemen, priests, or scholars. In the Elizabethan period, it was used between equals, especially to a group ("My masters"), mainly by urban

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

s and tradespeople. It was later extended to all respectable men and was the forerunner of '' Mister''. After its replacement in common speech by ''Mister'', ''Master'' was retained as a form of address only for boys who had not yet entered society. By the late 19th century, etiquette dictated that men be addressed as ''Mister'', and boys as ''Master''.

Current usage in the United Kingdom

The use of ''Master'' as a prefixed title is, according to

Leslie Dunkling Leslie Alan Dunkling (born 1935) is an author known for his authoritative work on names books, ranging from names people choose for their children to names of pubs. Biography Dunkling was born at Willesden in north-east London, and grew up in "w ...

, "a way of addressing politely a boy ... too young to be called 'Mister'." It can be used as a title and form of address for any boy. ''Master'' was used sometimes, especially up to the late 19th century, to describe the male head of a large estate or household who employed

domestic worker A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

s. The heir to a Scottish peerage may use the style or dignity " Master of" followed by the name associated with the peerage. For instance, the heir of Lord Elphinstone is known as the Master of Elphinstone.

Current usage in the United States

Nancy Tuckerman, in the '' Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette'', writes that in the United States, unlike the UK, a boy can be addressed as ''Master'' only until age 12, then is addressed only by his name with no title until he turns 18, when he takes the title of ''Mr.'', although it is not improper to use ''Mr.'' if he is slightly younger. Robert Hickey, deputy director of the Protocol School of Washington, states that "use of ''Master'' san honorific when addressing boys is considered old fashioned outside of conservative circles."

Other extant usage

In the 21st century, ''Master'' as an honorific or more often ''master'' as a professional term still has some use in reference to advanced workers (not always male) in the trades, and sometimes also to academics and educators. However, it is more frequently used as an

adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...

for this purpose (e.g. "master bricklayer"), or with an adjective ("school master", "headmaster"). ''Master'' is also frequently used (along with feminine ''Mistress'' or ''Domina'') in the

BDSM community BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged in ...

.Guy Baldwin (2002). ''SlaveCraft: Roadmaps for Erotic Servitude – Principles, Skills and Tools.'' Daedelus Publishing Co. pp. 57–62. . as a self-identifer by dominants, and by submissives in addressing them, especially in master/slave-roleplay relationships.

References

{{Social titles Men's social titles Honorifics