Nymphet

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term for an enticingly youthful female who possesses a flirtatious charm and innocence
2. A young girl described as charmingly youthful with an alluring innocence that evokes fascination
3. A female child or adolescent noted for her captivating freshness combined with a playful, alluring demeanor

Etymology: The word "nymphet" pairs the Greek-derived "nymph," a minor goddess of woods, meadows and water, with the diminutive suffix "-et," which makes something smaller or younger. Its first recorded use dates to 1612, when it meant little more than a small nymph, a fairy-like figure in the spirit of classical myth. For centuries the word stayed in that gentle, literary register. Its modern sense, a girl who is charmingly youthful and whose innocence seems alluring, was popularized by Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel "Lolita," whose narrator uses the term to describe its young heroine. That single book transformed a rare poetic diminutive into one of the most controversial words in English, so that a term once used for mythical woodland spirits now carries a disturbing association with the novel's narrator's obsession.