femme fatale
English
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French femme fatale (literally “deadly woman”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɛm fəˈtæl/
Audio (US): (file)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fɛm fəˈtɑːl/
Audio (UK): (file)
Noun
femme fatale (plural femmes fatales or femme fatales)
- An attractive and seductive but ultimately dangerous woman.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vamp
- Antonym: ingenue
- Coordinate terms: fille fatale, homme fatal
- 1967, Lou Reed, “Femme Fatale”, in The Velvet Underground & Nico, performed by The Velvet Underground:
- Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale) / The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
Derived terms
Translations
seductive and dangerous woman
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See also
Further reading
- femme fatale on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Danish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French femme fatale.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /famfatal/, [fɑmfaˈtˢalː] or IPA(key): /fam fatal/, [fɑm faˈtˢalː]
Noun
femme fatale c (plural indefinite femmes fatales)
Further reading
- “femme fatale” in Den Danske Ordbog
- femme fatale on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia da
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fam fa.tal/
Audio: (file)
Noun
femme fatale f (plural femmes fatales)
Descendants
- → Danish: femme fatale
- → English: femme fatale
- → Polish: femme fatale
Indonesian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French femme fatale (literally “deadly woman”).
Noun
Further reading
- “femme fatale” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.
Polish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French femme fatale.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfam faˈ.tal/
- Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]
Noun
femme fatale f (indeclinable)
- (idiomatic, narratology) femme fatale (attractive and seductive but ultimately dangerous woman)
- Synonym: kobieta fatalna
Further reading
- femme fatale in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- femme fatale in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French femme fatale.
Noun
femme fatale f (plural femmes fatales)
- (narratology) femme fatale (seductive and dangerous woman)