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

Example Sentences

Corrin immediately achieves a balance between the coquette and energetic idealist we picture Diana to be, and her performance invites the viewer into the Princess's interiority almost immediately.

From Salon • Nov. 14, 2020

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

The Musetta here was another American, Susanna Phillips, beautiful of voice and mien if not yet a seasoned coquette.

From New York Times • Sep. 29, 2016

Each company, as it comes forward, opens out like the fan of practised coquette, and a sheaf of skirmishers is launched to the front.

From Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life by King, Charles