coquette

American  

[koh-ket] / koʊˈkɛt /

noun

1. a woman who flirts lightheartedly with men to win their admiration and affection; flirt.

   Synonyms:

   vamp, tease

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verb (used without object)

1. to coquet.

coquette British  

/ kɒˈkɛt, kəʊˈkɛt /

noun

1. a woman who flirts

2. any hummingbird of the genus Lophornis, esp the crested Brazilian species L. magnifica

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Gender

What's the difference between coquette and coquet? See -ette.

Other Word Forms

• coquettish adjective
• coquettishly adverb
• coquettishness noun

Etymology

Origin of coquette

First recorded in 1605–15; from French, feminine of coquet

Explanation

A coquette is a flirt, a girl or woman who knows how to flatter and manipulate men with her charms in order to get what she wants. Coquette sounds French, and it is, borrowed into English from French in the mid-17th century. It's the feminine diminutive form of coq, which means "cock, a male bird" — so coquette refers to a little female bird, and, in fact, it's also the name of a kind of colorful hummingbird found in Latin America. If you imagine a coquette as a flamboyant little bird flitting about and teasing the male birds, you'll have a good picture of a coquette.

Example Sentences

The powerful, complex female lead was a rarity in traditional music theatre, where operatic tropes were easily assimilated, such as the virginal naif, the coquette, the old shrew.

From Salon • Dec. 4, 2021

This early Parisienne was an accessible figure, a scrappy coquette who loved as hard as she worked.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 19, 2019

The thumb-size short-crested coquette is found only in the forest edge along a roughly 15-mile stretch of road in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain in southern Mexico.

From National Geographic • Apr. 18, 2018

Henry showed his first collection on Saturday night, and it was more queen mum than French coquette.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 8, 2015

I tell thee in one month thou wilt make of this coquette the matron the most sober in the town, and of all its wives the one most docile, and submissive.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Reade, Charles