Word of the DayFriday, March 11, 2005
coquette
\koh-KET\ , noun:1.
A woman who habitually trifles with the affections of men; a flirt.
Quotes:
Their love is frustrated when the orphaned Bertha is adopted by "the old lady of the near castle" and becomes "somewhat of a coquette in manner," perversely entertaining suitors but accepting none.
-- Lawrence Venuti, "The Awful Crime of I. U. Tarchetti: Plagiarism as Propaganda", New York Times, August 23, 1992
She was an energetic woman, always singing, dancing, a coquette. Her flirtatiousness infuriated my father.
-- William Herrick, Jumping the Line
Here sat I, a personal student of Freud, of Adler, liberators of the erotic emotions, pioneers of sexual freedom; yet the nearness of this coquette had made me awash in perplexity and perspiration.
-- Leslie Epstein, Pandaemonium
Origin:
Coquette is the feminine form of French coquet, "flirtatious man," diminutive of coq, "rooster, cock." The adjective form is coquettish. The verb coquet (also coquette) means "to flirt or trifle with."
