ladies and gentlemen

ladies and gentlemen

English

Noun

ladies and gentlemen pl (plural only)

1. Used to address an audience.
   • 1996, The Cambridge History of American Literature, volume 8, Poetry and criticism, 1940-1995 (edited by Sacvan Bercovitch), page 408:

     […] a Master of Ceremonies' words "Ladies and gentlemen" […] interpellates those being addressed as an audience, and one that is differentiated by gender.

2. (rare and euphemistic) Public toilets: a ladies' room and a gentlemen's room.
   • 1941, Joyce Cary, Herself Surprised, Ch. xliv, p. 108:

     There are quays there and lamps and some squares of grass; a ladies and gentlemen, and a cinema.

Usage notes

When addressing an audience of all one gender, a speaker would typically use ladies (to women) or gentlemen (to men) instead. Infrequently, speakers may extend the form if other groups are in the audience; for example, "ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!". "Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests!" may be used to include people who identify as agender.

Translations

phrase used to address an audience of men and women

Arabic: سَيِّدَاتِي وَسَادَتِي‎ (sayyidātī wa-sādatī) Armenian: տիկնայք եւ պարոնայք (tiknaykʿ ew paronaykʿ) Azerbaijani: xanımlar və bəylər, xanımlar və ağalar (South Azerbaijani) Belarusian: па́нства pl (pánstva), шано́ўнае спада́рства n pl (šanóŭnaje spadárstva), да́мы і спада́ры (dámy i spadáry), па́ні і пано́ве (páni i panóvje) Burmese: လူကြီးမင်းများခင်ဗျား (lu-kri:mang:mya:hkangbya:), မိဘပြည်သူများ (mi.bha.pranysu-mya:) Catalan: senyores i senyors Chinese: Mandarin: 女士們，先生們／女士们，先生们 (nǚshìmen, xiānshengmen), (everyone, ladies and gentlemen) 各位 (zh) (gèwèi), 各位來賓／各位来宾 (gèwèi láibīn) Czech: dámy a pánové Danish: mine damer og herrer Dutch: dames en heren (nl) Esperanto: gesinjoroj Finnish: hyvät naiset ja herrat (fi) French: Mesdames et Messieurs (fr) German: Damen und Herren pl, meine Damen und Herren pl, (ironic) Herrschaften (de) f pl Greek: κυρίες και κύριοι (kyríes kai kýrioi) Hebrew: גבירותי ורבותי‎ (gvirotay verabotay) Hungarian: hölgyeim és uraim Icelandic: dömur mínar og herrar Indonesian: tuan-tuan dan nyonya-nyonya, hadirin sekalian, saudara-saudara (id) Irish: a dhaoine uaisle m pl Italian: signore e signori Japanese: 御列席の皆様 (ごれっせきのみなさま, go-resseki no minasama), 御来場の皆様 (ごらいじょうのみなさま, go-raijō no minasama), 皆様 (みなさま, minasama) Korean: 여러분 (ko) (yeoreobun), 신사숙녀 여러분 (sinsasungnyeo yeoreobun) Lithuanian: ponios ir ponai Malay: tuan-tuan dan puan-puan Mongolian: ноёд хатагтай нар аа (nojod xatagtaj nar aa) Navajo: shidineʼé, shikʼéí dóó shidineʼé, átaháásiiłóó, hastóí dóó sáanii Norwegian: mine damer og herrer Persian: خانم‌ها و آقایان‎ (xânom-hâ va âqâyân) Polish: panie i panowie Portuguese: senhoras e senhores Russian: господа́ (ru) pl (gospodá), да́мы и господа́ (ru) (dámy i gospodá) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: даме и господо Roman: dame i gospodo Slovak: dámy a páni Spanish: señoras y señores, damas y caballeros Swedish: mina damer och herrar Tagalog: mga binibini at mga ginoo Turkish: bayanlar ve baylar, bayanlar baylar Urdu: خواتین و حضرات‎ (xawātīn-o-hazrāt) Ukrainian: па́нство pl (pánstvo), па́ні й пано́ве (páni j panóve) Vietnamese: (quý) ông bà, (quý) ông bà anh chị em, (quý) cô bác anh chị em Welsh: boneddigion a boneddigesau

See also

• Appendix:Special uses of possessives in English