Wordnik word of the day: soubrette

Today’s word of the day is soubrette, a young woman regarded as flirtatious or frivolous. It comes from theatrical comedies and comic opera, in which a soubrette is a saucy, coquettish, intriguing maidservant or the actress taking such a part. The role is usually characterized by pertness and effrontery. Soubrette came into English from French, which took it as soubreto from Provençal, in which it meant “affected” or “conceited.”

Edna Hopper Wallace, from Prima Donnas And Soubrettes Of Light Opera And Musical Comedy In America (1900) by Louis Clinton Strang.
edna-wallace-hopper