What does ‘Ms’ stand for?

Ms is a title used before a woman’s name, much like ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’ Unlike those terms, it doesn’t specify whether the woman is married or unmarried. It’s used as an equivalent to the masculine ‘Mr’ to refer to a woman without defining her by her marital status (e.g. ‘Ms Gadd’).

It’s written like an abbreviation, but it doesn’t stand for any longer word; it’s just designed to look like other titles used before names. It does not stand for ‘Miss’. When said aloud, it’s pronounced [miz], but it should not be written that way.