Dictionary

memsahib en · NOUN

Etymology

From ma'am + sahib.

Meanings

1. (India, as a respectful term of address, historical) A white European woman in colonial India.
   • She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible 1911, Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 1, in The Secret Garden:
   • This might be accomplished literally through missionary work (Plate 5.1), but that tended to be unattractively pro-active and spinsterish, and it was rather the memsahibs, the mothers, wives and daughters of the white officers and administrators, who were to instil civilisation, through the example of their own moral refinement. 1997, Richard Dyer, White, →ISBN, page 184:

Forms

Coordinates

sahib

Translations (2)

hi मेम साहब (Translations) · bn মেম সাহেব (Translations)