From Middle Low German vrouweken, vrouken, a diminutive of vrouwe, vruwe, from Old Saxon frūa.
Cognate with German Frau (“woman”), Dutch vrouwe (“lady”), vrouw (“woman”) (Danish frue, fru and Swedish fru are borrowed from Low German). For the semantic development of the diminutive, compare German Fräulein (“Ms.”).
frøken c (singular definite frøkenen or (unofficial) frøknen, plural indefinite frøkener or frøkner)
| common gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | frøken | frøkenen (unofficial) frøknen |
frøkener frøkner |
frøkenerne frøknerne |
| genitive | frøkens | frøkenens (unofficial) frøknens |
frøkeners frøkners |
frøkenernes frøknernes |
From Middle Low German vroiken, vrouken.
frøken m or f (definite singular frøkenen or frøkna, indefinite plural frøkner, definite plural frøknene)
Historically only used for unmarried daughters of the nobility, later also daughters of civil servants and the higher bourgeoisie (compare with jomfru which was generally used for daughters of the bourgeoisie in the early modern period), commonly adopted for all unmarried women in the 20th century. Rarely used in daily conversations since around 1970. Compare usage history of Swedish fröken and Danish frøken.
From Middle Low German vroiken, vrouken.
frøken f (definite singular frøkna, indefinite plural frøkner, definite plural frøknene)
Historically only used for unmarried daughters of the nobility, later also daughters of civil servants and the higher bourgeoisie (compare with jomfru which was generally used for daughters of the bourgeoisie in the early modern period), commonly adopted for all unmarried women in the 20th century. Rarely used in daily conversations since around 1970. Compare usage history of Swedish fröken and Danish frøken.