Master is an

English honorific In the English language, an honorific is a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy or respect. These can be titles prefixing a person's name, ''e.g.'': ''Mr'', ''Mrs'', ''Miss'', ''Ms'', ''Mx,'' ''Sir'', ''Dame'', ''Dr'', ''Cllr'', ''Lady'' or ...

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 b ...

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 sometimes ...

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 ''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...

''. After its replacement in common speech by ''Mister'', ''Master'' was retained as a

form of address A style of office or form of address, also called manner of address, is an official or legally recognized form of address for a person or other entity (such as a government or company), and may often be used in conjunction with a personal title. ...

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, "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 workers. The heir to a

Scottish peerage The Peerage of Scotland ( gd, Moraireachd na h-Alba, sco, Peerage o Scotland) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Union ...

may use the style or dignity " Master of" followed by the name associated with the peerage. For instance, the heir of

Lord Elphinstone Lord Elphinstone is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created by King James IV in 1510. History The title of Lord Elphinstone was granted by King James IV in 1510 to Sir Alexander Elphinstone of Elphinstone, who was killed at the Battle of ...

is known as the Master of Elphinstone.

Current usage in the United States

Nancy Tuckerman, in the ''

Amy Vanderbilt Amy Osborne Vanderbilt (July 22, 1908 – December 27, 1974) was an American authority on etiquette. In 1952 she published the best-selling book ''Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette''. The book, later retitled ''Amy Vanderbilt's Etiquet ...

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 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, and sometimes also to academics and educators. However, it is more frequently used as an

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...

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 ...

.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