nymphet

English

Alternative forms

• nymphette

Etymology

From nymph +‎ -et (“diminutive”), first attested 1612. The second sense was popularized by Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita.

Noun

nymphet (plural nymphets)

1. (obsolete) A small nymph. [17th–19th c.]
   • 1612 Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion I. xi. Argt. 171:

     Of the nymphets sporting there In Wyrrall, and in Delamere.

2. A sexually attractive girl or young woman. [from 20th c.]
   • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 1, page 19:

     […] the fey grace, the elusive, shifty, soul-shattering, insidious charm that separates the nymphet from such coevals of hers […]

Usage notes

More common than the alternative spelling nymphette, which uses the more standard feminine suffix -ette.

Synonyms

• jailbait, lolita, nymph

Translations

A sexually attractive girl or young woman

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 仙女 (zh) (xiānnǚ)

• Czech: nymfička f, lolita (cs) f, lolitka f
• Finnish: nymfetti (fi)
• French: nymphette (fr) f
• Greek: νυμφίδιο (el) (nymfídio)
• Japanese: 美少女 (びしょうじょ, bishōjo), ロリータ (rorīta)
• Korean: 님펫 (nimpet)
• Spanish: nínfula (es) f
• Swedish: lammkött (sv) (slang)

References

• The changing English language, Brian Foster, 1968, pp. 185–186 – on spelling nymphet versus nymphette