Question

‌‌Identify‌ ‌the‌ ‌feminine‌ ‌form‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌noun:‌‌ ‌Master‌ ‌
a.Masteress‌ ‌
b.Mistress‌ ‌
c.Madam‌ ‌
d.masterlady

Answer 1

Hint - Here, the word master is a noun which refers to a man who is in complete control of something or is in a position of authority. It sometimes also refers to a male school teacher.

Complete answer:
The words masteress and masterlady are incorrect usages in the English language, hence option a and d, are ruled out. Mistress is a word from present day usage of English language which refers to a lady who is in a position of authority or a woman with great control. It often refers to a female school teacher. Both master and mistress are people who hold a position of authority or control, or refer to schoolteachers but, one is a man and the other a woman. Hence, the feminine form of master would be mistress. When someone calls a lady a mistress, they refer to her as the in charge of something. Maybe, an organization like school, or in charge of the house. For example, ‘He got an A grade from his Sociology mistress.’ In this sentence mistress refers to a female teacher of the subject sociology. If we replace the word mistress by ‘master’ in the same sentence, ‘He got an A grade from his sociology master.’ Here, the word master refers to a male teacher of the subject.
Let us take another example, ‘The dog happily ran towards his master on seeing him after almost a month.’ In this sentence the word master refers to the owner of the dog. This person has an authority of ownership. Replacing the word master in this sentence would refer to the lady owner of the dog. Let’s take one more example, ‘I’ll inform the mistress (of the mansion) about your arrival madam.’ Now in this sentence, two feminine words have been used. One, mistress and the other madam. While the former refers to the in charge of the mansion or the owner of the mansion, the latter, i.e. ‘madam’ is used to formally address or refer to a woman in a polite manner or in a respectful way. The masculine of madam would be ‘Sir’. Hence, option c, is ruled out.

Note: The obsolete form of mistress is ‘mastress’ and not masteress. The word mastress is no longer in use in the present-day English language.