prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2007-01-29 07:20 am

grisette

grisette - n., a young workingclass Frenchwoman.


With connotations of, as an older dictionary puts it, "being fond of gallantry" -- or more specifically, of engaging in part-time prostitution. From French for a cheap unbleached grey fabric worn by women in the garment trade in the 17th century, from gris, grey.

---L.