coquette

English

WOTD – 29 October 2015

Etymology

Borrowed from French coquette.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɒˈkɛt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /koʊˈkɛt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

coquette (plural coquettes)

1. A woman who flirts or plays with people's affections.
   • 1721, [Colley] Cibber, The Refusal; or, The Ladies Philosophy: A Comedy. […], London: […] B[arnaby Bernard] Lintot, […]; W[illiam] Mears, […]; and W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 2:

     Though, I confeſs, Paris has its Charms; but to me they are like thoſe of a Coquette, gay and gavvdy; they ſerve to amuſe vvith, but a Man vvould not chuſe to be marry'd to them.

   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 11, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 3:

     She was a big, sexy brunette—as Garcia said, «Something straight out of Degas,» and generally like a beautiful Parisian coquette.

   • 1997, Ian McEwan, Enduring Love, Vintage, published 1998, page 141:

     I was playing with him, leading him on, sending him messages of encouragement then turning away from him. I was a tease, a coquette.

   • 2020 February 4, Alex Kuczynski, “Philanderers, Predators and Pickup Artists: A History”, in The New York Times‎:

     Knox takes us through the lives of memorable seducers and their critics, in sometimes academic and sometimes rococo prose dappled with doges, coups de foudre, rakes, bawds, coquettes, coxcombs and procuresses — with guest appearances by members of the Frankfurt School sunning themselves in La Jolla.

2. Any hummingbird in the genus Lophornis.

Derived terms

• coquetry
• coquettish
• coquettishly
• coquettishness
• spangled coquette

Translations

flirtatious woman

Armenian: կոկետուհի (hy) (koketuhi), պչրուհի (hy) (pčʻruhi) Bulgarian: коке́тка (bg) (kokétka) Catalan: coqueta (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 風騷女子 / 风骚女子 (fēngsāo nǚzǐ), 狐狸精 (zh) (húlijīng) Czech: koketa (cs) Finnish: hempukka (fi), keimailija (fi), koketti (fi) French: allumeuse (fr) f, coquette (fr) f German: Kokette f, Schäkerin f Italian: civetta (it) f Japanese: 男誑し (おとこたらし, otokotarashi), コケット (koketto) Kalmyk: һалдһлзсн (ğaldğlzsn) Korean: 요부 (yobu) Maori: hinehine Portuguese: coquete (pt) f Russian: коке́тка (ru) f (kokétka), вертихво́стка (ru) f (vertixvóstka) (disapprovingly) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: кокета f Roman: koketa (sh) f Swedish: kokett (sv) c Turkish: yosma (tr), oynak (tr)

Verb

coquette (third-person singular simple present coquettes, present participle coquetting, simple past and past participle coquetted)

1. Alternative form of coquet.
   • 1875, Herbert Eastwick Compton, Semi-tropical trifles:

     Nobber has no small opinion of himself: he considers himself the Adonis of the Pondaati eleven, and he contemplates society as though it were Venus, and it was his mission to posturize before it, and coquette and toy with it.

Adjective

coquette

1. (aesthetic) Of or relating to a feminine style of clothing involving ribbons, frills, and bows.
   • 2023 January 12, Hannah Oh, “What Exactly is the Coquette Aesthetic That’s Taking Over the Internet Right Now?”, in Seventeen‎, retrieved 5 January 2024:

     Frills, lace, bows, hearts, and ribbon (in excess!) are all part of the coquette look.  […]”

   • 2023 October 24, Sierra Mayhew, “The Coquette Aesthetic Has Its Hold on Gen Z—15 Pieces That Define the Look”, in Who What Wear‎, retrieved 5 January 2024:

     Are you a Lana Del Rey fan who lives for ultra-romantic fashion pieces and clings to trends that involve ribbons, lace, and Bridgerton-esque motifs? Then the coquette aesthetic is most definitely for you.  […]”

French

Etymology

From coquet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.kɛt/

• Audio (Francy, Nancy):

  (file)

Adjective

coquette

1. feminine singular of coquet

Noun

coquette f (plural coquettes)

1. flirt, tease

   Elle est une vraie coquette.

   She's such a flirt.

Descendants

• → Dutch: koket
• → English: coquette
• Esperanto: koketa
• → Portuguese: coquete
• → Serbo-Croatian: koketa
• → Spanish: coqueto

Further reading

• “coquette”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.