Tribades

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Women who have sexual relations with other women, historically a term used in medical and literary contexts
2. Female partners engaged in sexual intimacy with one another, an archaic or historical designation
3. Women involved in same-sex sexual activity, particularly as referred to in classical and early modern sources

Etymology: "Tribades" is the plural of "tribade," a term for a woman who has sex with other women. The singular comes from Middle French "tribade," drawn from Latin "tribad-," which in turn was borrowed from Koine Greek "tribas." That Greek noun derives from the Ancient Greek verb "tribō," meaning "to rub," so the underlying image is one of friction. The word was a Greek-derived label for a specific kind of sexual activity, and its rubbing sense is what gives it its origin. Because the term was coined from a verb of physical contact, it describes its subject through the act itself rather than through any notion of identity, a reminder of how classical writers often named things by what they did with their bodies.