nubile

From French nubile, from Latin nūbilis (“marriageable”), from nūbō (“marry, to take as husband”), from Proto-Indo-European *snewbʰ- (“to marry, to wed”). Possibly cognate with Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē, “bride, young wife, nymph”) (English nymph), but this is disputed.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnubaɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnjuːbaɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪl

nubile (comparative more nubile, superlative most nubile)

1. Of an age suitable for marriage; marriageable (principally of a young woman). [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: eligible, marriageable, wifeable

   • 1921, Aldous Huxley, chapter 28, in Crome Yellow‎^[1], London: Chatto & Windus, page 292:

     "Pretty little thing, isn't she?" said Mrs. Budge huskily, and panted two or three times. "Yes," Denis nodded agreement. Sixteen, slender, but nubile, he said to himself, and laid up the phrase in his memory as a happy one.

2. Sexually attractive (especially of a young woman).

   Synonyms: foxy; see also Thesaurus:sexy

For a man, especially a young man, eligible is sometimes used as the corresponding term in the sense ‘marriageable’, particularly in the phrase eligible bachelor.

• nubility

• connubial
• nuptial, nuptials

nubile (plural nubiles)

1. A young sexually attractive woman.

• beluin, unible

Learned borrowing from Latin nūbilis.

• IPA^(key): /ny.bil/

• Audio:

  (file)

nubile (plural nubiles)

1. nubile

   Near-synonym: pubère

• “nubile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Latin nūbilis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnu.bi.le/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ubile
• Hyphenation: nù‧bi‧le

nubile m or f (plural nubili)

1. unmarried

nubile f (plural nubili)

1. unmarried woman
2. spinster

• nubilato

• celibe

nūbile

1. vocative masculine singular of nūbilus