Mademoiselle Abbreviation: How to Write Mlle

What the mademoiselle abbreviation is built from

Mlle keeps the first letter of the word and its last three letters: Mademoiselle. That pattern matters, because French typing rules say a short form whose final letter matches the final letter of the whole word skips the period. The same rule explains why madame becomes Mme and why the plural forms are Mlles and Mmes.

The word itself comes from ma (my) and demoiselle (young lady), so a rough literal reading is "my young lady." It is spoken as one word, roughly mad-mwah-ZEL, and the short form is always read aloud as the full title. Nobody says "em ell ell ee." A clipped title is not the same thing as a letter word like NASA, a split laid out in acronym vs abbreviation.

Period or no period after Mlle

The answer depends on which language you are writing in.

• French text: write Mlle with no period. French style guides treat it as a contraction, like Mme and Dr.
• American English text: many writers add a period, Mlle., to match Mr., Mrs. and Ms. Both forms are understood.
• Superscript: older French printing sometimes raised the last three letters slightly above the line. On a screen or a form, plain Mlle is fine.

Choose one style for the whole document. A program, menu or invitation that switches between Mlle and Mlle. looks careless.

French courtesy titles side by side

Notice that monsieur shortens to a single M with a period, not to Mr. Writing "Mr. Laurent" in a French sentence is an English habit. The English titles have their own pages, including Mrs., and the doctor abbreviation follows a similar contraction rule.

Where you will see Mlle today

In everyday France, the title has faded. Government forms there stopped offering a separate box for it some years ago, and many people now use madame for every adult woman, married or not. The word still turns up in several places:

• Historical novels, plays and period films set in France.
• Old family letters, school records and ship lists.
• Ballet, opera and theater programs that follow French tradition.
• Polite speech to a girl or a young waitress, though some find it old fashioned.
• French lessons, where students learn the three titles together.

Using it in a sentence

Here are a few lines that show the short form in context:

• "The letter was addressed to Mlle Hélène Garnier, rue des Lilas."
• "Mlles Petit and Moreau will share the first prize."
• "In the old census, the teacher is listed as Mlle Anne Blanc."
• "Our French workbook asks us to write Mme, Mlle or M. before each name."
• "The heroine of the novel is called Mlle de Saint Clair throughout."

When you write in English about a French woman, you can keep her French title or switch to Miss. Keeping it adds flavor in fiction; switching is clearer in a news story.

Mlle vs Mme and other easy mix ups

The two French titles for women differ by only a few letters, so they are easy to swap. Mlle is the young or unmarried form. Mme is madame, used for married women and, more and more, for any adult woman. If you are unsure, madame is the safer choice in modern French.

Other look alikes:

• Ms. is an English title with no marital meaning. French has no direct match, which is one reason madame now covers everyone.
• Mlle vs Mme on a form: if a modern French form offers only Mme and M., that is normal and not a mistake.
• Señorita in Spanish, shortened to Srta., is the closest cousin in another language.

Browse more short forms for titles and everyday words in our common abbreviations guide.