lesbian

Meanings

Adjective

• Homosexual, gay; preferring mostly or exclusively women as romantic or sexual partners.
• Between two or more women; homosexual, gay.
• Intended for lesbians.

Noun

• A homosexual woman, one who is mostly or exclusively sexually or romantically attracted to other women.
• A homosexual female animal.

Related

Similar words

• dyke , gay , homosexual
• Sapphic, sapphist, gayelle
• Amy-John, beaver eater, beanflicker, boondagger, bulldiker, bulldyker, carpet muncher, clam smacker, crack snacker, cunt-lapper, donut bumper, dyke, lesbianist, lezzer, lezzie, lezzo, rug muncher, scissor sister, todger dodger, vagitarian, clitorist

Narrower meaning words

• korephile

Broader meaning words

• LGBT
• gay
• homosexual
• queer

Origin

• From Latin Lesbiana, from Ancient Greek Λέσβος + Latin adjective suffix -iana; by reference to Sappho of Lesbos (whence also sapphist, sapphic), known for her sentimental poems about women. This sense of the word may have been borrowed from, or influenced by, the German cognate lesbisch, where it is found in medical literature from the 1830s.