Doyenne By Deane Barker • April 21, 2022 • Definition: the eldest female in a group; a woman who is the senior member, as in age or rank, of a group, class, profession, etc. This is the feminine version of the more rare “doyen,” which means: the senior member of a body or group a person considered to be knowledgeable or uniquely skilled as a result of long experience in some field of endeavor “Doyen” is Old French for “dean” which vaguely means leader. Why I Looked It Up In a book about the Vanderbilt family, I found this caption: Caroline Astor, the doyenne of Gilded Age New York society. Postscript Added on September 26, 2022 From The Constitution of Knowledge: Rush Limbaugh, the doyen of conservative talk radio… Postscript Added on April 12, 2023 From Kingmakers: Egypt’s policies were really inspired by the Envoy of a foreign state, who in theory is only one – and not even the doyen – of a large number of such Envoys…