Can you call a female boss "sir"?

[Cubus]

I'm not an English speaker but this makes me wonder.

[Lliam]

No. Sir is masculine. You would call a woman ma'am. "Yes, ma'am." "No, ma'am."
It's a contraction of the word madam. But madam is no longer commonly used because it is also associated with a woman who runs a brothel.

Madam or madame may still be used under some circumstances to formally address social elites, aristocracy, etc.

[hahahmm]

No but I can see why you thought that since a lot of titles do not have gender like "Captain" and "General".

[PBandJ_Nerd]

I wouldn't, but there could be some who might. However, you'd be corrected to say madam or ma'am.

[Siri137]

Why not just call her by her first name? That's what we would do.

[TrueConfection]

No Sir! Sir is for men. A woman is addressed as Ma'am.

[Cubus]

I heard people in army calling their female boss "sir"

[TrueConfection]

I've only heard female officers addressed as Ma'am. Calling them Sir sounds sarcastic.

[strateguy632]

yes, like marcy n patty in film charlie brown

[Reem12345reem]

no , but i guess boss is better than sir , but they're both masculine

[sage2021]

No No No! Absolutely not!!

[rosemilk]

uh no. that's for males.

[NotTacocaT6969]

Sir is a man.


Ma’am is a woman.

[laly520]

just call her by her name

[JoeGoldberg]

Uhm no 😂 perhaps “ma’am” sounds better

[cootjuhh]

lol no you call her madam or short ma' am