Grammatically, Madam is the correct term. Advocates for “Madame”, however, argue that the historical context of “Madam” should urge us to use Madame instead. In the 1700’s and 1800’s, while Madame remained for high society French women, Madam referred to a woman who owned a brothel.

‘Dear Sir or Madam’ is an outdated salutation traditionally used to open formal business emails. It should be avoided for a few reasons: First, today’s digitally connected world makes it easier than ever to find out who you’re emailing.

You should avoid using Dear Sir/Madam in emails as well as in cover letters. Cover letters are notably more formal than emails, but some of the same rules apply, especially if you are writing to someone for the first time.

In a similar way, both Americans and British tend to use “Dear Sir or Madam” or “Dear Sir/ Madam” when you don’t know someone’s name, but Americans sometimes use the more traditional forms “Dear Sir” or “Dear Sirs”, which are generally considered too old-fashioned or even sexist in the UK.

The abbreviation for madame is Mme. It’s worth noting that madam is the more common version the word among English speakers, while madame is the French spelling. Either way, both versions of this word can be abbreviated as Mme. or Mme (without punctuation). The plural abbreviation for this word is Mmes or Mmes.

“Madame” (Mme) for a woman. The plural is Mesdames (Mmes). “Mademoiselle” (Mlle) is a traditional alternative for an unmarried woman. The plural is Mesdemoiselles (Mlles).

The UK format is similar to US full block format, with these key differences for UK letters: The return address is right-aligned. The date is written as “15th May 2008” not “May 15, 2008” A comma, not a colon, follows the recipients’ name.

Madam can be also used to address a woman at the beginning of a formal letter. (‘Dear Madam, …’) When we are not sure of the gender of the recipient, we write Dear Sir/ Madam.

You should avoid using Dear Sir/Madam in emails as well as in cover letters. Cover letters are notably more formal than emails, but some of the same rules apply, especially if you are writing to someone for the first time. Regardless of format, use a formal tone, while—as stated earlier—investing time in researching whom you are writing to.

Madame – Meaning and Usage Madame is a word of French origins which can be literally translated as my lady. In usage, Madame is a title or a form of address used to a French-speaking woman. English term madam is actually derived from French Madame.

So if you are going to buck the trend and use “Dear Sir or Madam” anyways, here’s how to use it correctly. The proper punctuation is to capitalize each letter except in the word “or”, as in: Dear Sir or Madam, [Space] First paragraph of the cover letter.