femme

noun

ˈfem 

variants or less commonly fem

1

: woman sense 1a

2

: a lesbian who is notably or stereotypically feminine in appearance and manner

Examples of femme in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Jim must learn to accept a skinny femme like Lucien, while Lucien learns the valuable lesson that Instagram hotness is sometimes attached to a vain, rotten personality. — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2026

Artifice and authenticity, Parton reminds us in her own down-home, high-femme way, are not mutually exclusive. — New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026

The Anya Taylor-Joy to Princess Peach style pipeline has found a natural meeting point in these femme and fun looks—but breaking for some killer vintage JPG felt right for the Suzuka paddock. — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 29 Mar. 2026

One of my interests is in mapping feminism before the canon existed, in looking outside of the genres, like the querelle des femmes, that have typically been associated with feminist or proto-feminist writing. — Chandler Fritz, The New York Review of Books, 21 Mar. 2026

Beauty is pain — that’s a saying that has echoed across generations while being lobbed at women and femme-presenting people. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 21 Jan. 2026

Through the 70’s and 80s, Kier kept working in European film, with parts in such cult films as Suspiria, Docteur Jekyll et les femmes, and several films by his ex-lover Rainer Werner Fassbinder. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 24 Nov. 2025

Chappelle had previously faced backlash for making dehumanizing jokes about trans people, many of which regurgitate harmful stereotypes that frame trans women as predators, the kind of rhetoric that contributes to violence toward trans femmes of color. — Quispe López, Them., 30 Oct. 2025

Sui’s designs can best be described as sitting at the intersection between the femme and the grunge, and Old Navy is Americana-coded through and through. — Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 28 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably from French femme woman, from Old French feme, from Latin femina

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing femme

• femme fatale

Rhymes for femme

• clem
• em
• gem
• hem
• phlegm
• rem
• stem
• them
• atm
• diadem
• ibidem
• meristem