coquette
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /kɒˈkɛt/ (UK); /koʊˈkɛt/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from French coquette,[2][3][4][5][6] the feminine of coquet “male flirt”,[2][3][4][5] a diminutive of coq “cock”,[3] so called from a likeness to the strutting of a cock.[3] It is related to coquet.[2][4]
Earliest recorded meaning
A woman who tries to win men's admiration for her own vanity (1611).[7][5]
Semantic evolution
Barnhart dates the noun to 1669 and Etymonline to the 1660s,[3][4] noting that coquet itself was used of women from the 1610s.[4] The OED also records a male coquette (1770)[7] and the name of a genus of crested hummingbirds (1843).[7][1]
Timeline
- 1611 – a flirtatious woman.[7][5]
- 1656 – coquetry, earlier “pertness”.[3]
- 1660s – date given by Etymonline and Barnhart.[4][3]
- 1743 – as an adjective, coquettish.[7]
- 1843 – a genus of hummingbirds.[7]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A woman who flirts to win admiration without sincere affection.
- A small crested hummingbird of the genus Lophornis.
Word family
- coquettish
- coquettishly
- coquettishness
- coquetry
Related words
- coquet
- cock
Usage notes
Random House gives tease and vamp as synonyms.[6]
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
- ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press