Ladettes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A young woman who adopts behaviors traditionally associated with males, often including drinking and a carefree attitude
2. A female counterpart to lad culture, often characterized by a bold and assertive approach to socializing
3. An individual participating in a lifestyle typically marked by non-conventional attitudes towards femininity and social norms

Etymology: "Ladettes" is the plural of "ladette", a word formed in English from "lad" and the suffix "-ette". The base, "lad", goes back to Middle English "ladde", a word for a boy or young man. The suffix "-ette" came into English through Old French from Latin "-ittus", and in English it typically marks a smaller or female version of something, as in "kitchenette" or "usherette". The combination is what makes the term striking. "Ladette" takes a word for a male youth and attaches a feminine diminutive ending to it, producing a label for young women who copy the rowdy, hard-drinking habits once seen as belonging to young men. The suffix therefore does double duty, signaling both femaleness and a kind of smallness or imitation, which suits a term that describes women borrowing a masculine role.