coquette

American  

[koh-ket] / koʊˈkɛt /

noun

coquettes plural

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

Derived Forms

• coquettishness
  noun
• coquettish
  adjective
• coquettishly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• coquettes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of coquette

First recorded in 1605–15; from French, feminine of coquet

Explanation

A coquette is a flirt, a girl or woman who knows how to flatter and manipulate men with her charms in order to get what she wants. Coquette sounds French, and it is, borrowed into English from French in the mid-17th century. It's the feminine diminutive form of coq, which means "cock, a male bird" — so coquette refers to a little female bird, and, in fact, it's also the name of a kind of colorful hummingbird found in Latin America. If you imagine a coquette as a flamboyant little bird flitting about and teasing the male birds, you'll have a good picture of a coquette.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

coquette coquettes

Paired with a signature lace trim, Mendoza’s one-of-a-kind pieces are coquette staples that balance cultural pride and individuality.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

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

It does not impress me as being the face of a frivolous woman, a coquette, a court butterfly; but rather that of one who is always playing a part which sometimes wearies.

From Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical Sketches by McCarthy, Justin

Unlike Chaplin, who was ever the champion of the innocent heroine, Laurel and Hardy usually ran afoul of gold-digging coquettes or nagging wives.

From Time Magazine Archive

When the Walshes went off to Europe to meet King Albert of the Belgians, she licked Baedekers to make her lips red and practiced walking like Parisian coquettes.

From Time Magazine Archive

If these coquettes shared a single trait, it was by no means beauty but an indomitable will to succeed and the ability to overcome natural handicaps.

From Time Magazine Archive

And when all three proved but heartless coquettes, I swore I would never marry till I was forty.

From The Wine-ghosts of Bremen by Hauff, Wilhelm

If my ideas of good company are too refined, too just, too high, to be satisfied in the slandering circles of coquettes, dunces, and gamblers, am I to be called unsociable?

From The Nephews: A Play, in Five Acts. by Iffland, August Wilhelm