"femme" meaning in English

See femme in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /fɛm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-femme.wav [Southern-England] Forms: more femme [comparative], most femme [superlative]
Rhymes: -ɛm Etymology: Borrowed from French femme (“woman”). Doublet of feme, femina, and hembra. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*dʰeh₁(y)-}}, {{glossary|loanword|Borrowed}} Borrowed, {{bor|en|fr|femme||woman|g=|g2=|g3=|id=|lit=|nocat=|pos=|sc=|sort=|tr=|ts=}} French femme (“woman”), {{bor+|en|fr|femme||woman}} Borrowed from French femme (“woman”), {{doublet|en|feme|femina|hembra}} Doublet of feme, femina, and hembra Head templates: {{en-adj}} femme (comparative more femme, superlative most femme)
  1. (chiefly Canada, US, journalism, entertainment) Pertaining to a femme; feminine, female. Tags: Canada, US Categories (topical): Mass media
    Sense id: en-femme-en-adj-Z~80M0Gf Categories (other): American English, Canadian English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 19 4 2 20 30 26 Topics: entertainment, journalism, lifestyle, media
  2. (chiefly derogatory) Effeminate (of a man). Tags: derogatory
    Sense id: en-femme-en-adj-rILbUSPv
  3. Characteristic of a feminine lesbian or queer woman.
    Sense id: en-femme-en-adj-9DzlrCk5
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: baron and femme, en femme, femme couverte, femme fan, femme fatale firefly, femme incomprise, femme-Nazi

Noun

IPA: /fɛm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-femme.wav [Southern-England] Forms: femmes [plural]
Rhymes: -ɛm Etymology: Borrowed from French femme (“woman”). Doublet of feme, femina, and hembra. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*dʰeh₁(y)-}}, {{glossary|loanword|Borrowed}} Borrowed, {{bor|en|fr|femme||woman|g=|g2=|g3=|id=|lit=|nocat=|pos=|sc=|sort=|tr=|ts=}} French femme (“woman”), {{bor+|en|fr|femme||woman}} Borrowed from French femme (“woman”), {{doublet|en|feme|femina|hembra}} Doublet of feme, femina, and hembra Head templates: {{en-noun}} femme (plural femmes)
  1. A woman, a wife; (now chiefly Canada, US) a young woman or girl. Categories (topical): People
    Sense id: en-femme-en-noun-~ACQHOLj Disambiguation of People: 11 0 4 37 27 21 Categories (other): American English, Canadian English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 19 4 2 20 30 26
  2. (LGBT) A lesbian or other queer woman whose appearance, identity etc. is seen as feminine as opposed to butch. Categories (topical): LGBT Synonyms: fem [uncommon]
    Sense id: en-femme-en-noun-ZUIkzimV Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 19 4 2 20 30 26 Topics: LGBT, lifestyle, sexuality
  3. (LGBT, less common) A person whose gender is feminine-leaning, such as a feminine non-binary person. Tags: uncommon Categories (topical): LGBT
    Sense id: en-femme-en-noun-umzLsW1L Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 19 4 2 20 30 26 Topics: LGBT, lifestyle, sexuality

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for femme meaning in English (11.6kB)

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          "text": "Then I turned to him and said, \"O my lord, I have that to propose to thee wherein thou must not cross me; and this it is that, when we reach Baghdad, my native city, I offer thee my life as thy handmaiden in holy matrimony, and thou shalt be to me baron and I will be femme to thee.\"",
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          "ref": "1986 [1984], Armistead Maupin, Babycakes (Tales of the City), pages 64–65",
          "text": "Some of the most political dykes in town had already converted, tossing out their Levi's and Birkenstocks in favor of poodle skirts and heels. It was no longer a question of butch vs. femme, liberations vs. oppression. Clothes did not unmake the woman; clothes were just clothes.",
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          "ref": "1993, Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues, Los Angeles: Alyson Books, published 2003, page 32",
          "text": "Monique whispered something to a butch sitting near her. The butch crossed the room and approached our table. “Hey,” she called to me. I didn't look up. “Hey, femme, you wanna dance with a real butch?”",
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          "ref": "1997, Bi Academic Intervention, Bisexual Imaginary: Representation, Identity, and Desire, A&C Black, page 207",
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          "text": "I love butches, though. I dated a femme once. That was wrong on so many levels.",
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          "ref": "2018, Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries (Lee Harrington, Tai Fenix Kulystin), page 79",
          "text": "The same is true of Goddess Spirituality spaces which are predicated on Radical Feminist rhetorics about Nature and the embodied experience – even those spaces which are open to trans women and nonbinary femmes may still fall back on language about the womb …"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, The Lemonade Reader: Beyoncé, Black Feminism and Spirituality (Kinitra D. Brooks, Kameelah L. Martin)",
          "text": "[…] there is no story of Black pain deeper than that of Black fat women and femmes. […]\n¹ Gender expansive for women, femmes, and nonbinary folks."
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          "ref": "2019, Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag (Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, Duchess Harris), page 21",
          "text": "Jordan-Zachery offers two dominant scripts that are often written onto Black women's, femmes', and girls' bodies: The Ass and Strong Black Woman scripts."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Kristen J. Sollee, Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine, page xvii",
          "text": "[...] and any person who might partake in feminine expression (cis and trans women and men, nonbinary femmes...).",
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          "ref": "2007, Beth A. Firestein, Becoming Visible: Counseling Bisexuals Across the Lifespan, Columbia University Press, page 305",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1885, Richard Francis Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 18",
          "text": "Then I turned to him and said, \"O my lord, I have that to propose to thee wherein thou must not cross me; and this it is that, when we reach Baghdad, my native city, I offer thee my life as thy handmaiden in holy matrimony, and thou shalt be to me baron and I will be femme to thee.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1983, Variety's Film Reviews: 1964–1967",
          "text": "Theodore J. Flicker and George Kirgo have penned a good script in which Elvis is played off against four femmes […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A woman, a wife; (now chiefly Canada, US) a young woman or girl."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "wife",
          "wife"
        ],
        [
          "Canada",
          "Canada"
        ],
        [
          "US",
          "American English"
        ],
        [
          "girl",
          "girl"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butch"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:LGBT"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1986 [1984], Armistead Maupin, Babycakes (Tales of the City), pages 64–65",
          "text": "Some of the most political dykes in town had already converted, tossing out their Levi's and Birkenstocks in favor of poodle skirts and heels. It was no longer a question of butch vs. femme, liberations vs. oppression. Clothes did not unmake the woman; clothes were just clothes.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993, Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues, Los Angeles: Alyson Books, published 2003, page 32",
          "text": "Monique whispered something to a butch sitting near her. The butch crossed the room and approached our table. “Hey,” she called to me. I didn't look up. “Hey, femme, you wanna dance with a real butch?”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Bi Academic Intervention, Bisexual Imaginary: Representation, Identity, and Desire, A&C Black, page 207",
          "text": "Given the myth that lesbian femmes will eventually leave their butches for men, there is an understandable unwillingness to acknowledge bisexual femmes, who really might do it — as indeed they have every right to.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Michelle Gibson, Deborah Meem, Femme/Butch, page 103",
          "text": "I love butches, though. I dated a femme once. That was wrong on so many levels.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A lesbian or other queer woman whose appearance, identity etc. is seen as feminine as opposed to butch."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "LGBT",
          "LGBT"
        ],
        [
          "lesbian",
          "lesbian"
        ],
        [
          "queer",
          "queer"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "feminine",
          "feminine"
        ],
        [
          "butch",
          "butch"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(LGBT) A lesbian or other queer woman whose appearance, identity etc. is seen as feminine as opposed to butch."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "uncommon"
          ],
          "word": "fem"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "LGBT",
        "lifestyle",
        "sexuality"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:LGBT"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: masc"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries (Lee Harrington, Tai Fenix Kulystin), page 79",
          "text": "The same is true of Goddess Spirituality spaces which are predicated on Radical Feminist rhetorics about Nature and the embodied experience – even those spaces which are open to trans women and nonbinary femmes may still fall back on language about the womb …"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, The Lemonade Reader: Beyoncé, Black Feminism and Spirituality (Kinitra D. Brooks, Kameelah L. Martin)",
          "text": "[…] there is no story of Black pain deeper than that of Black fat women and femmes. […]\n¹ Gender expansive for women, femmes, and nonbinary folks."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag (Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, Duchess Harris), page 21",
          "text": "Jordan-Zachery offers two dominant scripts that are often written onto Black women's, femmes', and girls' bodies: The Ass and Strong Black Woman scripts."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Kristen J. Sollee, Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine, page xvii",
          "text": "[...] and any person who might partake in feminine expression (cis and trans women and men, nonbinary femmes...).",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person whose gender is feminine-leaning, such as a feminine non-binary person."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "LGBT",
          "LGBT"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(LGBT, less common) A person whose gender is feminine-leaning, such as a feminine non-binary person."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncommon"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "LGBT",
        "lifestyle",
        "sexuality"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛm/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-femme.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-femme.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-femme.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-femme.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-femme.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "en:Butch and femme"
  ],
  "word": "femme"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 1-syllable words",
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English doublets",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from French",
    "English terms derived from French",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰeh₁(y)-",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛm",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛm/1 syllable",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*dʰeh₁(y)-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "loanword",
        "2": "Borrowed"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "femme",
        "4": "",
        "5": "woman",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "id": "",
        "lit": "",
        "nocat": "",
        "pos": "",
        "sc": "",
        "sort": "",
        "tr": "",
        "ts": ""
      },
      "expansion": "French femme (“woman”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "femme",
        "4": "",
        "5": "woman"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from French femme (“woman”)",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "feme",
        "3": "femina",
        "4": "hembra"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of feme, femina, and hembra",
      "name": "doublet"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from French femme (“woman”). Doublet of feme, femina, and hembra.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more femme",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most femme",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "femme (comparative more femme, superlative most femme)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "baron and femme"
    },
    {
      "word": "en femme"
    },
    {
      "word": "femme couverte"
    },
    {
      "word": "femme fan"
    },
    {
      "word": "femme fatale firefly"
    },
    {
      "word": "femme incomprise"
    },
    {
      "word": "femme-Nazi"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "Canadian English",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Mass media"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009, Jeff Apter, Fornication: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story",
          "text": "Admittedly, Kiedis was concerned about the lack of femme rockers on the bill: the only women featured were in British band Lush, who would open each day's festivities before a few hundred curious onlookers.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 March 20, Summer Brennan, “Sex, power, oppression: why women wear high heels”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "High heels are something like neckties for women, in that it can be harder to look both formal and femme without them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Pertaining to a femme; feminine, female."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Canada",
          "Canada"
        ],
        [
          "US",
          "American English"
        ],
        [
          "journalism",
          "journalism"
        ],
        [
          "femme",
          "femme"
        ],
        [
          "feminine",
          "feminine"
        ],
        [
          "female",
          "female"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly Canada, US, journalism, entertainment) Pertaining to a femme; feminine, female."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "US"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "journalism",
        "lifestyle",
        "media"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Effeminate (of a man)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "Effeminate",
          "effeminate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly derogatory) Effeminate (of a man)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butch"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Her style was more femme than butch.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992, Deneuve",
          "text": "\"We want to base our relationships on who we are now, not who we once were\" says radical femme bisexual Linda Moore.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Beth A. Firestein, Becoming Visible: Counseling Bisexuals Across the Lifespan, Columbia University Press, page 305",
          "text": "In comparison to butch bisexual women, it may be easier for femme bisexual women to locate male and female dating partners […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Characteristic of a feminine lesbian or queer woman."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛm/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-femme.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-femme.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-femme.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-femme.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-femme.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "en:Butch and femme"
  ],
  "word": "femme"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.