the marital-status-neutral honorific for an adult woman and may be applied in cases in which the marital status is irrelevant or unknown to the author. For example, if one is writing a business letter to a woman, "Ms." is acceptable. "Mrs." denotes an adult female who is married. "Miss" can apply to specifically unmarried women, however, the term is being replaced more and more by "Ms." "Miss" can apply to an unmarried woman or more generally to a younger woman. "Miss" is the proper form of address for female children and unmarried women, although some consider the latter use to be dated. "Master" is used in formal situations for addressing boys typically aged under 16, after which it is "Mr." "Master" in this case is of old English origin. Messrs. or Messieurs is a historically used term to address many men rather than "Mr Pink, Mr White, et al." Messrs is the abbreviation (pronounced "messers") for messieurs and is used in English. Mesdames addresses many women; pronounced "Meydammes". On occasion, one may use "Sir" or "Madam" by itself as the salutation, with nothing preceding. The severe and old-fashioned formality of such a salutation makes it appropriate for very formal correspondence (for example, addressing a head of state, or a letter to the editor), but in the same way, the formality and stiffness of such a salutation would make its use in friendly social correspondence inappropriate. French Standard salutation The standard French salutation uses the normal style of address to the recipient of the letter, followed by a comma: Monsieur, for a man. Madame, for a woman (the former distinction between a young or hopefully unmarried woman, with its distinct salutation, Mademoiselle, and an adult or married woman, Madame, is now considered rude; indeed, the usage of "Mademoiselle" has been prohibited in official documents since 2012). When writing specifically to a female where her marital status is irrelevant and/or unknown, the author should use Madame, unless she is a child. When writing to an adult woman, one uses Madame, unless one knows the person prefers Mademoiselle. According to a traditional custom which is sometimes still followed by some people, one could also use Mademoiselle when writing to a female artist (actress, singer, etc.), regardless of the marital status and age of the person. When the gender of the person to whom one is writing is unknown, the appropriate salutation is (on