señor

See also: senor, senhor, and Señor

English

Alternative forms

• senor

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish señor. Doublet of seigneur, seignior, senhor, senior, senyor, signore, sir, and sire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seɪnˈjɔɹ/, /seɪnˈjoʊɹ/, /sinˈjɔɹ/, /sɛnˈjɔɹ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: se‧ñor

Noun

señor (plural señores)

1. A Spanish term of address equivalent to sir or Mr., used alone or capitalized and prefixed to the name of a married or an older man.

Anagrams

• noser, renos, oners, Ernos, Rosen, Ornes, snore, seron, Ensor, Norse, neros, rosen, Roens, Neros, Rones

Galician

Alternative forms

• senhor (reintegrationist)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese senhor, from Latin senior. Compare Portuguese senhor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seˈɲoɾ/ [s̺eˈɲoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: se‧ñor

Noun

señor m (plural señores, feminine señora, feminine plural señoras)

1. elder, senior
2. sir, mister
3. lord, master, liege
4. (capitalized, Catholicism) the Lord / God

Related terms

• Sr.

Noun

señor f (plural señores)

1. (archaic) lady, milady

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “señor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “señor”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “señor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “señor”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “señor”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish señor (“señor”). Doublet of senior, senyur, and sinyo.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛɲɔr/ [ˈsɛ.ɲɔr]
• Rhymes: -ɛɲɔr

Noun

señor

1. señor (a Spanish term of address equivalent to sir or Mr.)

   Synonym: senyur

Further reading

• “señor”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Spanish

Alternative forms

• Señor (used before a name)
• seor, seó

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seˈɲoɾ/ [seˈɲoɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: se‧ñor

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish sennor (“lord”), from Vulgar Latin *senjor (“master, elder, lord, nobleman”), from Latin seniōrem (“elder”), comparative form of senex (“old”). Doublet of sénior, borrowed from Latin.

Noun

señor m (plural señores, feminine señora, feminine plural señoras, diminutive señorito)

1. mister, sir, lord (title conferred on a married or older male)

   Synonyms: Sr., Sr

   Señor, cierre la puerta.

   Sir, close the door.

2. gentleman

   Synonym: caballero

3. master

   Synonym: amo

Derived terms

• de padre y muy señor mío
• dueño y señor
• ruin señor cría ruin servidor
• señor de la guerra
• señor feudal
• señoras y señores
• señoreante
• señorear
• señoría
• señorial
• señoril
• señorío
• señorita
• señoritingo
• señoritismo
• señorito (diminutive)
• señoro
• señorón (augmentative)

Etymology 2

From señor in the sense of mister, a title which gives importance to men and signals their social status; from there it was applied to masculine nouns in order to achieve a similar effect with them. Compare Portuguese senhor (adjective).

Adjective

señor (feminine señora, masculine plural señores, feminine plural señoras)

1. (prepositive) great big; whopping

   dale un señor golpe

   give him a good big whack

2. free

   Eres muy señor de hacerlo si quieres

   You are quite free to do it if you want

Further reading

• “señor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “señor”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• “señor”, in Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española [Thesaurus of the Historical Dictionaries of the Spanish Language], Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], launched 2021
• “señor”, in Diccionario del español de México [Dictionary of the Spanish of Mexico] (in Spanish), second edition, Mexican Academy of the Language [Spanish: Academia Mexicana de la Lengua], 2019
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “señor”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Anagrams

• renos, rones

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /senˈjoɾ/ [sɛnˈɲoɾ]
  • IPA^(key): (no palatal assimilation) /senˈjoɾ/ [sɛn̪ˈjoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: se‧ñor

Noun

señór (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜒᜈ᜔ᜌᜓᜇ᜔)

1. alternative spelling of senyor