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.”
