English
en femme
En femme comes from French en femme ‘as a woman’.
- Frenchc. 1600–presenten femme‘as a woman’
- Englishearliest quotation 1984same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presenten femme‘as a woman’
- Englishearliest quotation 1984same form
Earliest quotation: 1984, Carol Beecroft, Editors Choice: “These Holidays En Femme are for members of Tri-Ess…”
A compound of en ‘as’ + femme ‘woman’
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂ ‘(the one) nursing, breastfeeding’
Latin femina ‘woman’
Middle French femme ‘wife’
French femme ‘woman’
Every English word from French en femme
Today it means
adj Chiefly of a cross-dressing, non-binary, or trans person: dressed in feminine clothing.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French en femme / en femme