coquette

American  

[koh-ket] / koʊˈkɛt /

noun

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

   Synonyms:

   vamp, tease

---

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

---

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

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

She placed a hand on each cheek, tilted her head like a stage coquette and pouted moodily.

From New York Times • Sep. 23, 2019

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

But Miss Wolfe, though far from a coquette, was gifted with presence of mind.

From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Wingfield, Lewis