Coquette

By Deane Barker

Definition: a flirtatious woman

Technically, an equivalent male is a “coquet,” but you don’t see that word much.

Perhaps unfortunately, “coquet” is a diminutive form of “cock” in French. One assumes that the usage here is because a rooster “flirts” with a bunch of hens. That would fit a male in this situation, and “coquette” is the feminine form of that.

Why I Looked It Up

A book describing a woman in a James Bond movie said she would do something, “in classic coquette style.”

Postscript

In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I read this passage:

The inhabitants [of a neighborhood] were all doing well, it seemed, and all emulously hoping to better still, and laying out the surplus of their gains in coquetry; so that the shop fronts stood along that thoroughfare with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen.

It’s an interesting usage of a form of “coquette,” meaning the goods in the store windows were “flirtatious,” and comparing them to women.

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