bachelorette

Etymology

It is formed from English bachelor + -ette.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Etymonline thinks it was formed in English, and notes that Old French bachelette (“young girl”) is recorded in the 15th century, also bachelle, bacelette and bachelote, while Modern French is said to use French bachelière only of a student.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An unmarried woman: 1896, in Alice Yates Grant's play “The Dummy”, where another character asks where the speaker picked up "such a remarkable word".^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline says the word displaced the earlier bachelor girl (1888).^[6] The dictionaries date it very differently: the 1989 edition of the OED and the Collegiate to 1935, the revised OED to 1965, in the Toronto magazine “Saturday Night”, and Dictionary.com to 1900–05.^[7][8][2][4] The OED calls it originally and chiefly Canadian,^[2][7] and in Canada it also names a very small bachelor apartment (1973).^[2][9][5] Collins labels the sense "young unmarried professional woman" jocular.^[5]

Timeline

• 1896 – an unmarried woman.^[6][3] The OED dates this sense to 1965, and its 1989 edition to 1935.^[2][7]
• 1973 – Canadian, a small apartment for a single person.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young unmarried woman; a bachelor girl.^[3][5][9][2]
2. (Canada) A very small bachelor apartment.^[9][5][2]

Related words

• bachelor
• bachelor girl
• -ette

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Barber, Katherine, ed. (2004), The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Toronto: Oxford University Press