gamine

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French gamine.

Noun

gamine (plural gamines)

1. A (usually female) street urchin; a homeless girl.
2. A mischievous, playful, elfish, pert girl or young woman.

Translations

a female street urchin; a homeless girl

• Russian: беспризо́рница (ru) f (besprizórnica)

a mischievous, playful, elfish, pert girl or young woman

• Russian: прока́зница (ru) f (prokáznica)

Adjective

gamine (comparative more gamine, superlative most gamine)

1. (of a girl) Having a boyish, mischievous charm; elfish, typically with short hair. [from 20th c.]
   • 1984, Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac, Penguin, published 2016, page 54:

     In her navy linen trousers and her, perhaps too tight, white jersey, Jennifer was determinedly gamine.

   • 2017 May 25, Peter Bradshaw, “L'Amant Double review – camp-classic status beckons for François Ozon's softcore silliness”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     It’s a wildly dated-looking and derivative film, a quaint adventure in fantasised naughtiness, like Ozon’s teen prostitute fantasy Jeune et Jolie in 2013, which starred his lead actress here, Marine Vacth, in a similarly gamine role.

Translations

having a boyish, mischievous charm

• Russian: мальчи́шеский (ru) (malʹčíšeskij)

See also

• gamin

Anagrams

• Enigma, enigma, imagen, in-game

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡa.min/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gamine f (plural gamines, masculine gamin)

1. kid (child)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• igname

Middle English

Verb

gamine

1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of gamen