ladette

English

Alternative forms

• laddette

Etymology

From lad +‎ -ette.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /læˈdɛt/
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

ladette (plural ladettes)

1. (informal) A young woman who behaves in a laddish manner, namely being boisterous and loud and drinking to excess.

   Synonyms: geezerbird, tomboy

   • 2017 May 15, Hannah Marriott, “Woke models: how activism became fashion's latest must-have”, in The Guardian‎^[1], London, page 9:

     It could be argued that the rise of the socially conscious model reflects a very 2017 archetype: the “woke” young woman, who looks set to define femininity this decade in the same way that the lager-swilling ladette did in the 90s. It is also symptomatic of a broader cultural “awokening” that has reached the stuffiest institutions; even the royal family has recently relaxed its upper lip.

   • 2021 September 22, Zoe Williams, “Generation X are heavy, risky drinkers. Will anything ever persuade us to stop?”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     So the rise in drinking seems to centre on gen X women, or, to give us our proper title, ladettes.

Derived terms

• ladettish

Translations

young woman of masculine manners

• French: garçon manqué (fr) m, garçonne (fr) f

Further reading

• “ladette”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

Anagrams

• deltate