ingénue

American  

[an-zhuh-noo, -nyoo, an-zhey-ny] / ˈæn ʒəˌnu, -ˌnju, ɛ̃ ʒeɪˈnü /

Or ingenue

noun

• ingénues
  plural

1. an artless, innocent, unworldly girl or young woman.

   Navy and cocoa browns are good neutrals for the ingénue, and the right creamy beige or pearl gray are good choices for her more classic outfits.

2. the role of a young, innocent, and appealing character in a play, movie, TV show, etc., typically a female role.

3. an actress or actor who plays such a role or specializes in playing such roles.

4. a young actress or actor.

   At the awards event, natural diamonds were the gemstone of choice for both Hollywood ingenues and veterans alike.

5. a young, inexperienced person.

   The ailing leader Kim Jong Il sought to transfer power to his youngest son, a political ingenue in his 20s.

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ingénue British  

/ ɛ̃ʒeny, ˌænʒeɪˈnjuː /

noun

1. an artless, innocent, or inexperienced girl or young woman

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ingénues
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ingénue

First recorded in 1840–50; from French, feminine of ingénu, from Latin ingenuus “native, inborn”; see origin at ingenuous; see also ingenuity ( def. )

Explanation

What do Ophelia, Snow White, and Sandy from the movie "Grease" all have in common? You could call each one an ingénue, or a young female character in literature or film who is wholesome and innocent. Ingénue comes from the French ingénu meaning "ingenuous, innocent." The term is used to describe the innocent girl stock character in film or literature. She's usually gentle, sweet, virginal, and pretty naive — which makes her susceptible to the harsh dangers of the world. Ingénue can also be used to describe an actress who specializes in playing this kind of character specifically.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ingénue ingénues

This woman should be smoking cigarettes in a Parisian cafe, not getting up to the bubbly mischief Van der Velden envisions for her ingénue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 6, 2025

Pickett explains: "I wasn't really interested in her being an ingénue."

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2025

The eager cosmopolitan ingénue of the film stills is visible only in the rearview mirror.

From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2024

She’s no ingénue, but the rise of Uzo Aduba has been nothing shy of meteoric.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2023

Here Charles Frohman saw her work, and liked it so much that he engaged her for the ingénue in his first stock company, then lodged at Proctor's Twenty-Third Street Theater.

From The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 5 July 1906 by Various

While the best actress award has often gone to ingénues, the best actor award has rarely gone to men below the age of 40.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026

Ms. Hunt said she begged studio executives to end her run of dewy-eyed coeds and romance-minded ingénues and give her a better range of parts, even if it meant a drop from marquee billing.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 10, 2022

Pre-Code actresses no longer played merely vamps or ingénues, those twin feminine archetypes that dominated the silent era.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2022

Sitting next to a casting director as a line of secondary ingénues streamed past, Dan said, “I vote for her,” and she got the part.

From Golf Digest ● Mar. 8, 2019

She stood before the screen, certain she could practically smell the restaurant, the heavy perfumes of a room full of divas and ingénues.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Related Words

• babe
• ingénue