Origin: 1935–40 (earlier in sense “coquette”); <
French minaudière orig., coquette, person with affected manners, noun use of feminine of
minaudier affected, equivalent to
minaud(
er) to have an affected manner (verbal derivative, with
-aud adj. suffix (
see ribald), of
mine facial expression, probably <
Breton min muzzle) +
-ier -ier2